SRA names members of revamped board
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The new members of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) board have been announced, two months after TheLawyer.com revealed that there was ill feeling between the SRA and the Law Society over the appointments process.
Martin Coleman
Thirteen members, including seven solicitors and six lay members, have won places effective as of January 2010. Two further members - a solicitor from a high street firm and a lay person with a business background - are expected to be appointed in the autumn.
This follows the appointment of Herbert Smith consultant Charles Plant as SRA chair, replacing Peter Williamson (22 June 2009).
As reported in June, the Law Society and the SRA were at loggerheads over the appointments process, with the Law Society managing the appointment of the chair and board members while the regulatory body had no input (15 June 2009).
All appointments were made by a committee led by former parliamentary commissioner for standards Elizabeth Filkin. The other members were former Law Society president Paul Marsh, Law Society management board chair Philip Hamer, master of the rolls-nominated lay member Bob Musgrove and independent external assessor Geoff Thompson.
The new members are:
Solicitors
Yvonne Brown of Yvonne Brown & Co. Solicitors. Former chair and director of the Black Solicitors Network.
Martin Coleman, global head of competition at Norton Rose and member of the Legal Services Consultative Panel.
Mark Humphries, recently retired head of advocacy at Linklaters.
Tom Keevil, general counsel and company secretary at United Utilities.
Cindy Leslie, dispute resolution partner at Denton Wilde Sapte.
Malcolm Nicholson, recently retired Slaughter & May competition head. Also a member of the Competition Commission.
Lucy Winskell, partner at Sintons.
Lay members
Dr Susan Bews, former medical director of a pharmaceutical company and member of the Bar Standards Complaints Committee.
Tony Hobman, chief executive of the Pensions Regulator.
Ian Menzies-Conacher, chartered accountant and former group taxation director at Barclays.
Sara Nathan, chair of the Home Office animal procedures committee and member of the Judicial Appointments Commission and the Youth Crime Commission.
Sir Ron Watson, board member of Standards for England and chair of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust.
Stephen Whittle, chair of the Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator.
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 18-Aug-2009 5:25 pm
The solicitors appointed appear to be of good quality. However, the challenge for the SRA is to attract people of good quality who work at the coal face. The standard of work at the SRA is, in my opinion, very low , which should be of considerable concern to solicitors.
The fundamental problem at the SRA is that many case workers appear to have no forensic skills, are not aware of the evidence that must be gathered to win cases and have no idea of the legal principles to be applied when considering whether the Code of Conduct has been breached.
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Anonymous | 19-Aug-2009 1:36 pm
The SRA has much to do to win the hearts and minds of the legal profession; it is currently seen as a regulator that is content to punish firms when they make innocent mistakes or misunderstand the rules, rather than one that helps those it regulates to stay out of trouble in the first place.
The SRA needs to start living up to its own aims and objectives (providing assistance, training, etc to those it regulates), only then will the profession start to appreciate that the regulator is balanced in its approach; surely this would be in the best interests of clients in the long run?
I know the SRA is reviewing its approach to regulation but we need to see more action rather than just words!
For the record, I am not a solicitor and so have no biase, just a wish that things would get better for all involved.
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