The Solicitors Regulation Authority has issued the first fixed penalty notices against firms failing to comply with transparency rules.

The regulator introduced the automatic fines at the end of last year to reduce the time and cost of prosecuting low-level compliance breaches. They are effectively similar to motoring fines or penalties for travelling on public transport without a ticket.

Today it published details of the first cohort of these penalties, with three firms fined £750 each for failing to publish information on costs, service levels and the credentials of lawyers who would be instructed.

According to the notice, the firms sanctioned are Crystal Law Limited from Leicester, Ola Leslie Solicitors LLP from south east London and Hertfordshire firm Williams Hortor Law and Mediation.

If firms who have been fined continue not to comply with the rules, they could potentially face a further fixed penalty of £1,500.

Paul Philip, chief executive of the SRA, said: ‘Compliance is clearly not optional. Our transparency rules are there to benefit the public, helping people compare law firms’ services and make informed choices. All those firms that are publishing the correct information rightly expect that we will take action against those who don’t.

‘We brought in fixed penalties so we could deal with non-complex breaches of our rules more swiftly. That saves everyone time, cost and stress. It also appears that the threat of fixed penalties is proving effective in bringing firms into compliance.’

The SRA says there are other live cases for firms not complying with transparency rules. They are sent notices of the potential fine with the opportunity to put the issue right.

While fixed penalty fines are limited to transparency rules for now, the regulator has put forward the idea of expanding them for failures to complete mandatory anti-money laundering and diversity data returns. The scope of this extended power would be wider due to the SRA’s ability to fine firms up to £25,000, and potentially issue unlimited fines for breaches related to economic crime if and when the Economic Crime and Transparency Act is implemented.

 

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