Solicitors Regulation Authority announces changes to fines and publication of disciplinary decisions

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) confirmed on 15 February changes it is making to how it levies financial penalties on law firms and solicitors, and reforms to its approach to publishing information on disciplinary decisions. The reforms on how it issues financial penalties are: the introduction of a fixed-penalty regime for lower-level misconduct; future fines for firms and individuals linked directly to bandings based on percentages of income/turnover; and the launch of a pilot on the use of personal impact statements for cases involving sexual misconduct, discrimination or harassment. These changes will come into effect later this year. In regard to the changes to its approach to publishing disciplinary decisions, the SRA plans to: publish more information, written in plainer English, for all individual decisions; and introduce set periods, based on decision type, for which individual decisions will remain on the public record.