Katy Dowell
The profession will escape a full ban on referral fees but tighter measures will be introduced to cut down abuse of the system.
It follows a year-long review of the system after the Law Society found there to be “significant breaches of the referral arrangement rules, including the core principles”.
The SRA board said its 12-month review revealed widespread infringements of the rules, but reintroducing a ban was not the right answer.
Instead the SRA will introduce rules which will allow solicitors to pay people who introduce them to clients after finding that a complete ban “was not feasible”.
The regulator said it would focus on enforcement of the rules and monitoring of compliance.
The watchdog is considering a number of options which would aim to increase compliance. Options include tightening its control of solicitors operating referral fee arrangements; forcing firms to introduce an annual report on their activities to the SRA; and the introduction of “model agreements” to aid firms with compliance.
“We need a regime that is clear and easy to enforce but with tough penalties for those who break the rules” said chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority Peter Williamson.
Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 17-Jun-2009 11:45 am
Is there any news from the SRA on referral fees since January 2009?
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