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The Optima-Capita deal: how the SRA arrived at its ‘severe reprimand’

Quote...; "Optima may have breached the rules, but it has gained the experience of working with a non-legal entity, and this will put it in a good position when the act comes into force". All the more reason why the SRA should have really gone to town and thrown the book at them! They are laughing behind their hands now at the toothlessness of the professions governing body! OK, the public "severe reprimand" meted out to Robinson and Ruane is not something that a Lawyer would want on their personal record and will be immensely professionally embarrasing for them both but in my view they should have gone further and looked at the possibility of striking them off. I'm being too harsh? Not really. The SRA found that they had both been guilty of misconduct and the settlement agreement expressly provides that they are barred from denying their misconduct. They've openly flouted the rules, gained an unfair advantage over the competition and received a massive leg up into the top 100. Do we really think they'd be so far advanced without the Capita millions at their disposal even accounting for the fact that when they started out their client base was inherited from DLA Piper? Also, how come Robinson and Ruane have not done the decent thing and resigned? They have both, in admitting to their misconduct brought the reputation of the Legal Profession into disrepute as well as the firm itself! I happen to know that under the firms disciplinary policy this is defined as gross misconduct.... They would be quick to jump on any of their employees if they brought the firm into disrepute (although, knowing what I know about what has gone on there in the past, this may not be universally applied to all staff) - wonder if they'll be upholding the moral standards of the profession and setting an example to the staff they lead by invoking the firms disciplinary procedure against themselves? How can they now have any moral authority over those they are responsible for leading? The odds are that they wont and it'll be more of the "do as we say, not as we do" or "the rules do not apply to us" mentality.

16-Aug-2010

10:53 am