The Solicitors Regulation Authority has been urged to consider support for junior lawyers ‘parachuted’ into becoming general counsel but lacking experience to have tough conversations with their bosses.

The regulator published a raft of guidance last year to support the 34,500-plus in-house solicitors in England and Wales. The guidance covers topics such as reporting concerns of wrongdoing, balancing ethical obligations and managing legal risk.

However, concerns were raised by an audience member at the SRA’s flagship in-house conference yesterday for junior members of the profession brought in by the company to save money on lawyers.

The audience member said there was no statutory definition of what a ‘general counsel’ is.

Read more

‘You do not have to study law or be a lawyer to be a GC. You see a lot of companies have a GC because they are the only lawyer in the firm and they might be one-year qualified. It creates a significant power dynamic,’ the audience member said.

Jackie Griffiths, head of regulatory policy at the SRA, said: ‘We recognise that’s a real challenge. “GC” is not a protected term and is used at all levels of lawyer. It is something we need to give some through to at the SRA… whether we need to give guidance about the different terms you might use and when “GC” might be appropriate.’