Silence from the LSB as Axiom Ince report still unpublished

The oversight regulator continues to delay the publication of a review of the Solicitors Regulation Authority's handling of the Axiom Ince collapse – with no explanation why it is taking so long.

Today marks a month since the Legal Services Board last made any public comment on its review. Then it revealed that it had received the independent report from Northern Ireland firm Carson McDowell, along with findings and recommendations.

The LSB said at the time that the report would be published ‘as soon as due process has been completed’.

The Gazette asked this week why the report had not appeared, but the LSB responded to say it had nothing further to add.

The LSB had announced last December it wanted to examine events leading up to the SRA’s 2023 intervention into the national firm Axiom Ince, saying it was ‘important for public and professional confidence’ that lessons were learnt.

The aim was to report in spring of this year, but that plan was revised at the end of May when the oversight regulator announced it could not publish the report during the general election period. ‘We now expect to publish the report after the general election,’ the LSB said at the time – but more than a month on, there is still no update.

The issue is important for a number of reasons. Axiom Ince is the biggest intervention in the SRA’s history and will result in fees rising considerably in the next year to cover the costs.

Questions remain about the nature of the SRA’s response to events. Axiom grew significantly in April 2023 by buying the much larger Ince and Co (and subsequently again by acquiring Plexus Legal) but the regulator apparently did not visit the firm for three months.

In the meantime, the hole in the client account grew to more than £60m as Axiom bought not just other firms but properties as well. Three directors were suspended in August 2023 but the intervention was not made until October.

Clients of the firm have reported that their money has gone missing and hundreds of claims have been made to the compensation fund, which is paid for through contributions from the profession. 

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