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Let’s assume you already know you have to report material compliance failures to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) as soon as reasonably practicable. That begs the BIG question: what does a material compliance failure really look like. In the brave new world of outcomes-focused regulation, there’s no definition of material compliance failure and the SRA isn’t forthcoming with any real guidance or examples. Instead, you’re expected to work it out for yourself, taking into account all relevant factors.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has abandoned plans to impose a group-wide approach to the regulation of firms which engage in activities overseas as it launched a second consultation on amending the SRA Handbook in relation to international practice.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority will next month launch its own version of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, chairman Charles Plant announced yesterday at the official opening of the authority’s new headquarters in Birmingham.

Anthony Townsend, chief executive of the SRA, is quoted as saying that “compliance officers cannot be sacrificial lambs. You can’t just shuffle off responsibility for compliance”. ‘You’ here means the management and it begs an obvious question: if management can’t shuffle off its responsibilities for compliance, why have compliance officers at all?

The third edition of the SRA Handbook in just seven months has gone live after being approved by the Legal Services Board. A fourth edition in less than a year since the Handbook went live on 6 October 2011 should be necessary in June.