Legal Village

Decoding the new conduct rules

Posted 8/05/2007 by Fiona Woolf

The use of internet and electronic communications have become an integral part of the modern law firm - not only to win clients and gain competitive advantage but in recruitment, with firms reaching out to the brightest and best through the use of podcasts and web blogs, and as a tool in cultivating firm brand identity.

As more and more firms get 'web-wise' the Law Society has responded in kind by taking the e-route in developing support for members getting to grips with the new set of professional conduct rules for solicitors, which will come into force on 1 July.

The new rules will be radically simpler and clearer and will bring together all the previous sources of professional conduct into a single code. They include a set of core duties, such as integrity, independence and the best interest of clients, which form the framework for the rest of the rules. The on-line training course, which will be available very soon, enables solicitors to get an understanding of the contents of the new code and get up to speed with the impact of the changes.

The new code of conduct can be can already be accessed on the SRA website. Once it is live, the Law Society will be very keen to get your views on how it is working and on the issues we might need to take up with the SRA on your behalf.

On the subject of feedback, it is extremely encouraging to get enthusiastic responses from solicitors about the work that the Law Society is doing to provide practical help and support to the profession. My tour of the top 100 firms is reaching its conclusion (less than 15 to go now!) and the feedback from them is surprisingly uniform.

There is a great deal of work going on around recruitment and retention issues and we are helping in that field with the quality of life debate. Large firms, unsurprisingly, share our concerns about preserving the independence of the profession (which, thankfully, we have made great strides on in the Lords) and share in my priority that the Bill should do nothing to damage the competitiveness and flexibility of our top firms on the global stage.

I was delighted that the response from delegates who attended the Minority Lawyers Conference 2007, held at Chancery lane on Saturday, was so positive and encouraging.

Justice Albie Sachs, of the South African Constitutional Court - who is a leading light for justice on the world stage - opened the conference with a moving keynote speech about the creation of the South African Constitutional Court. Justice Sachs as many will know, played an active part in the negotiations that led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy and took a central role in the development of the Constitutional Court building and its art collection on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg.

We were reminded this week about the threat to access to justice in this country with the publication of the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee report on the legal aid reform programme, which says that the Government is taking an overwhelming risk, without adequate research or a proper timetable. The report echoes the critical concerns raised by the Law Society over many months and highlights the risks these proposals pose to the most vulnerable in society. Crucially, the committee expressed concern that some of the reform proposals may contravene race relations legislation.

The committee has called for a robust assessment of the affect of the reforms on BME clients, based on comprehensive and reliable statistical information. We wait to see if the Government and the LSC will now heed the warnings ringing out from every quarter of the justice system but, if past form is anything to go by, I won't be holding my breath! 

The Society of Asian Lawyers and the Black Solicitors Network have begun Judicial Review proceedings to challenge the Government's proposals, following its failure to carry out an assessment of the proposals' impact on minority law firms and the communities they serve. The Law Society will be intervening in that action and we are also calling for a halt to these reforms until we have a full understanding of the risks and a more sensible timetable for implementation.