The SRA regulates solicitors and law firms in England and Wales; it focuses on serious professional and regulatory concerns rather than ordinary poor-service redress.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can investigate serious conduct such as dishonesty, misuse of client money, serious conflicts, discrimination, serious reckless/incompetent behaviour and other significant breaches of professional standards.
If your complaint is mainly about poor service, delay, communication or fees, the service provider’s complaint process and Legal Ombudsman may be the more appropriate redress route.
Key points
- SRA = regulation and professional conduct; Legal Ombudsman = service complaints and individual service remedies.
- A conflict allegation should identify the competing duties/interests and why the conflict was serious, not merely that two matters were inconveniently connected.
- Provide concise evidence and explain seriousness.
- A regulator report does not automatically produce compensation for you.
What the SRA says it is interested in
Current SRA reporting guidance gives examples including failing to act in a client’s best interests, acting where client interests conflict, serious reckless/incompetent behaviour, discrimination, dishonesty and misuse of money. The SRA applies an assessment threshold and considers seriousness and context.
Service vs conduct
The same events can contain both. For example, slow updates may be service; knowingly acting despite a serious conflict may be conduct. Split the allegations so each body receives the issue it can actually determine.
Evidence and neutrality
A strong report identifies dates, people, documents and the rule/standard engaged. Avoid presenting inference as established fact. If you infer a conflict from documents, state the underlying facts and why the inference follows.
In practice
- Do not report every disappointing solicitor interaction as misconduct.
- Explain why the alleged behaviour is serious enough for regulatory consideration.
- Keep the retainer, correspondence, conflict disclosures/waivers and complaint responses.
What to do
A practical next-step plan
- Identify the conduct issue.
- Separate it from service complaints.
- Gather primary documents.
- Explain seriousness and impact.
- Submit to the SRA if the issue fits its reporting threshold.
- Use Legal Ombudsman separately for service redress where eligible.
Common traps
Things that often confuse the issue
- Using inflammatory labels instead of evidence.
- Expecting the SRA to refund fees or award ordinary compensation.
- Conflating disagreement with a solicitor’s legal position and misconduct.
Evidence worth keeping
Where to go next
If you need service redress, preserve Legal Ombudsman deadlines while any SRA report is considered.
Understand what the outcome can and cannot do
The SRA decides what regulatory action, if any, is appropriate. You may receive limited detail about confidential supervision or enforcement. Continue any Legal Ombudsman, costs, negligence or court route separately where your objective is personal redress.
Keep the routes separate.
Regulator, ombudsman/ADR, statutory appeal and court proceedings can have different purposes, powers and deadlines. Using one route does not automatically preserve another.
Build the complaint for an independent reader
Frame a regulatory report around the professional obligation allegedly engaged. For a conflict concern, identify the parties, retainers, overlapping interests and information flows. For misleading statements, identify the statement, document, date and why the evidence shows it was materially false or improper. Do not overstate an inference as an established fact.
| If they say… | What to check or say back |
|---|---|
| “The SRA has been copied in, so the firm must compensate me.” | The SRA’s regulatory role is different from the Legal Ombudsman’s service-redress role. |
| “Any poor service is SRA misconduct.” | Many ordinary service complaints belong primarily with the firm and Legal Ombudsman. |
| “A conflict exists because the same firm acts for two companies.” | The relevant interests, duties and any applicable exceptions must be analysed; shared representation is not automatically prohibited. |
| “The SRA did not take action, therefore my service complaint fails.” | A regulatory threshold decision does not decide an ombudsman service complaint. |
Check jurisdiction and timing before writing the full case
Do the gateway checks first. A perfectly argued complaint can still fail if it is sent to the wrong body, too early, too late or against a respondent outside the scheme.
- Identify the solicitor/firm and the conduct said to engage an SRA obligation.
- Distinguish your personal service complaint from any wider regulatory concern.
- Provide primary documents and a chronology rather than asking the SRA to infer misconduct from a commercial dispute.
- Keep Legal Ombudsman and court deadlines under review; an SRA report does not automatically stop them.
Is Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) actually the right body?
The SRA regulates solicitors and authorised law firms in England and Wales. It is the route for serious professional or regulatory concerns such as dishonesty, misuse of client money, serious conflicts or conduct that may breach professional obligations. It is not the ordinary service-complaint ombudsman.
If you are a client complaining about delay, communication, costs or poor service and want compensation or a fee/service remedy, complain to the firm first and then consider the Legal Ombudsman. A single set of facts can sometimes justify both a service complaint and a separate SRA report.
Official sources
Check the rules behind this guide
These are official or primary sources for this topic. Rules, scheme terms and deadlines can change, so check the live source before relying on a formal time limit or procedure.