Looking at the growing number of law firms increasing their use of both legal and back-office outsourcing, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is planning to regulate and keep a check on outsourcing by these law firms.
Legal Week reports that the new Code of Conduct may be published next week (April 6) which may grant SRA power to review law firms’ outsourcing contracts and files, as well as access to outsourcers’ premises for regulatory checks. This inclusion would affect all legal and business process outsourcing arrangements that SRA deems critical to the firms’ activities.
This move of SRA will now force law firms to reconsider their decisions and relook into the outsourcing contracts and arrangements.
The guidelines, coming into effect in October as part of the new Code of Conduct, state that the SRA expects firms to look at all existing outsourcing contracts. While it concedes it may not be possible to change them all before the terms end, the watchdog wants to see evidence that firms are reviewing contracts to ensure compliance.
SRA head of standards Richard Collins said, “Our primary aim is to ensure that outsourcing does not reduce our ability to thoroughly regulate what law firms do and that they can still prove that the work is up to our requirements”.
Integreon is getting bulk of back-office work from several law firms like Allen & Overy, CMS Cameron McKenna. CPA Global is also handling lot of outsourced work of different law firms. SRA intends to review all these LPO deals through this new Code of Conduct.
The law firms are already criticizing this move of SRA who argue that the guidelines are intrusive, unclear and in need of revision. The law firms are unable to understand how SRA can expect them to make sure it gains entry to the property of a third party. Also, the fact that SRA has presence only in England and Wales, it is difficult to understand how it practically plans to regulate LPOs in India and other countries.
The SRA maintains it will not be changing the guidelines.
Source:http://www.barandbench.com/brief/2/1381/solicitors-regulation-authority-to-review-outsourcing-contracts-
