Written by The SRA plays a crucial role in overseeing the standards and conduct of solicitors across England and Wales. As a regulatory body, it must uphold a transparent and fair process for handling complaints about its services. However, the SRA’s choice to use the CEDR as the provider for independent reviews at the final stage of its complaints handling process raises questions about impartiality and conflicts of interest. This article delves into why the relationship between the SRA and CEDR undermines public trust in the complaints system.
Who Are the Players?
The SRA is the regulatory body responsible for the conduct of over 157,000 solicitors across England and Wales. It manages complaints and ensures solicitors meet professional standards. The SRA’s complaints process involves multiple stages: an initial response, an internal review, and, if the complainant is still unsatisfied, an independent review conducted by an external party.
CEDR is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting alternative dispute resolution through conciliation, mediation, and adjudication. CEDR has gained considerable credibility for its work in commercial dispute resolution. However, it is not regulated as a legal services provider, and, importantly, it employs people who are themselves regulated by the SRA.
The Issue of Regulation
The first significant concern about the relationship between the SRA and CEDR is that CEDR itself is not regulated by an approved legal services regulator. Despite being tasked with the independent oversight of the SRA’s complaints, CEDR lacks the regulatory oversight required to provide reserved legal services. This gap means that the entity responsible for handling some of the most delicate disputes related to the SRA’s conduct is not, in itself, subject to the stringent legal regulations imposed on other providers within the legal field.
Furthermore, CEDR employs people who are regulated by the SRA, creating an apparent conflict of interest. These employees must adhere to SRA standards and regulations, and this interconnection casts doubt on CEDR’s ability to provide truly independent assessments of the SRA’s complaints handling procedures. The possibility that SRA-regulated individuals are involved in evaluating their regulator raises legitimate concerns about impartiality.
Financial Arrangements and Conflict of Interest
Another potential issue lies in the financial relationship between the SRA and CEDR. Although it is not explicitly stated in publicly available documents, it is highly likely that the SRA compensates CEDR for conducting these independent reviews. Such an arrangement is typical for professional services and makes sense given the workload involved in assessing complaints, auditing case files, and producing reports.
However, this financial arrangement presents an additional conflict of interest. The independence of any external reviewer is inherently compromised when the entity it is tasked to review is also the one that pays for its services. Even if CEDR operates with utmost ethical standards, the perception of bias is inevitable. Public trust in the integrity of the review process can be eroded if it appears that the reviewer is, in effect, financially beholden to the body being reviewed.
No Compensation Fund Safety Net
Further concerns arise from the lack of compensation fund coverage. The SRA clearly states that if something were to go wrong while working with CEDR, its compensation fund would not cover any financial loss experienced by the complainant. This lack of a safety net contrasts with other services directly regulated by the SRA, where clients are usually assured that they would have some financial protection in cases of malpractice or negligence. The absence of this safeguard adds to the risks faced by individuals engaging in the independent review process.
The Perception Problem
The independent reviewer’s role is to provide an unbiased final say on complaints that cannot be resolved within the SRA. However, given the intertwined relationship between CEDR and the SRA—both financially and through shared personnel—it is challenging to argue that CEDR is fully independent. The perception of bias is just as damaging as actual bias, particularly in regulatory processes that demand the highest standards of transparency.
Members of the public who lodge complaints against solicitors or the SRA itself often do so because they feel wronged or mistreated. For these individuals, the independent review process represents their last hope for impartial redress. If the reviewing body is seen as influenced, directly or indirectly, by the organisation it reviews, complainants may lose faith in the fairness of the outcome.
Conclusion: Time for Rethinking Independence
The SRA’s decision to use CEDR as its independent reviewer warrants careful scrutiny. While CEDR has an impressive track record in dispute resolution, its role in independently reviewing the SRA’s complaints handling raises significant issues regarding impartiality, regulation, and public confidence. The fact that CEDR is unregulated for legal services, combined with its financial relationship with the SRA and the involvement of SRA-regulated individuals, undermines the credibility of the independent review process.
To restore trust, the SRA should consider alternative arrangements for independent oversight. This might involve using a truly independent body that is not financially connected to the SRA and whose personnel are not subject to SRA regulation. Alternatively, a public body with appropriate regulatory oversight might be better suited to provide a final, impartial review of complaints about the SRA.
In the end, genuine independence is not just about avoiding actual bias—it is about ensuring that no reasonable person could perceive a conflict of interest. Until this standard is met, questions will continue to hang over the SRA’s complaints handling processes.
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References
- SRA (SRA) Independent Reviewer Report 2023.
- Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) official website – www.cedr.com.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) official website – www.sra.org.uk.
Disclaimer
This article represents an analysis based on publicly available information and reasonable assumptions regarding the relationship between the SRA and CEDR. It is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.