By Tony O’Reilly-
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is proposing a major update to the professional competence framework for solicitors, with greater emphasis on ethical decision-making and understanding technology.
The regulator is consulting on revisions to its 10-year-old Statement of Solicitor Competence, which sets out the knowledge, skills and professional standards expected of solicitors. The framework is also intended to provide clients with a clear indication of the level of competence they should expect from the professionals they instruct.
The consultation, which runs until 3 December, proposes changes designed to reflect the increasingly complex environment in which solicitors practise and the need to maintain public confidence in the profession. One of the most significant proposed changes concerns professional ethics. Under the revised framework, solicitors could be expected, as a standard part of their professional competence, to understand and apply their ethical duties and to recognise how those duties should be prioritised when they come into conflict.
The proposed framework would also expect solicitors to understand when and how concerns about ethical issues or potentially unethical conduct should be raised.
The changes place ethical judgement alongside legal knowledge and practical professional skills, signalling a stronger regulatory expectation that solicitors should be able to identify and respond appropriately when professional obligations come under pressure.
Technology to become an explicit part of legal competence
Technology is another area targeted by the proposed reforms. Within the section dealing with legal knowledge, the SRA proposes an explicit requirement for solicitors to have an understanding of technology as well as the law.
The move reflects the growing role of digital systems in legal practice, from the handling and analysis of electronic evidence to the use of increasingly sophisticated technologies in legal work. The proposal suggests that technological awareness is no longer regarded simply as an additional professional skill, but as part of the knowledge required to practise competently
The proposed reforms are likely to attract particular attention in the wake of the Post Office Horizon scandal, in which lawyers came under scrutiny over their handling of ethical obligations and allegations of misconduct.
The scandal raised profound questions about the responsibilities of legal professionals when their duties conflict, as well as whether concerns about potentially improper conduct are identified and escalated appropriately.
Against that backdrop, the SRA’s proposed emphasis on ethical judgement and the ability to recognise and report concerns could represent an attempt to strengthen the profession’s safeguards against similar failures.
Broad consultation informed the proposals
The proposed changes have been developed following feedback from almost 150 solicitors, law firms, educators, representative bodies and academics. The consultation provides an opportunity for the profession and other interested parties to comment on whether the proposed competence framework accurately reflects the knowledge, judgement and skills required of solicitors today.
Beth Black, the SRA’s director of education and training, said the changes were intended to reinforce public confidence in the profession.
“Every day, people and businesses place their trust in solicitors. They should be confident that the solicitors they turn to have the knowledge, skills and professional judgement to provide a competent service.”
The proposed revisions is expected to reshape how professional competence is understood across the solicitors’ profession, putting ethical judgement and technological awareness alongside traditional legal expertise. With public confidence in legal services under continued scrutiny, the consultation represents a significant opportunity for the regulator to redefine what competent legal practice should look like in the modern profession.