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These rules may be cited as the Law Society of Scotland Practice Rules 2011. These rules shall come into operation on 1 November 2011.

(a) grant any application for advice and assistance; (b) sign any application for civil legal aid as a practising solicitor nominated by the applicant;

Practice units providing civil legal aid are reminded that they will need to nominate a manager (partner) as Compliance Manager

When tendering for business or at the earliest practical opportunity upon receiving instructions to undertake any work on behalf of a client, you shall provide the following information to the client in writing:

This rule requires solicitors to provide information in writing to clients about certain specific matters namely

By each date set out in rule 5.2.2 a practice unit shall designate one of its managers as its Client Relations Manager, who shall be responsible for dealing with complaints made to that practice unit.

1. Records to be kept (Rule B5.5.1) It is not intended that the record keeping exercise should simply be an administrative one.

Cloud systems may provide an alternative means of storing and processing data.

The following Code contains a statement of good practice for those solicitors conducting criminal work. It does not have the status of a Practice Rule but may be referred to for guidance in assessing whether a solicitor’s conduct meets the standard required of a member of the profession.

Subject to rule 7.2, where any of these rules permits or requires the Society or the Council to give or send a notice to, or serve a notice on, any person then such notice shall be:

You must maintain client confidentiality.

You must only act in those matters where you are competent to do so.

Check the skills of outsourced providers

Propriety of conduct 4.4.2 Where you are in any doubt as to the propriety of any course of conduct you should: (a) seek the advice of the Secretary;

You must maintain client confidentiality.

You must not act for two or more clients in matters where there is a conflict of interest between the clients or for any client where there is a conflict between the interest of the client and your interest or that of your practice unit.

Conflict of Interest Generally It is a well established principle that solicitors should not act for clients where there is a conflict of interest between them. This is codified in rule B2.1.2 which states that "You shall not act for two or more parties whose interests conflict."

The Society believes that a definition of a commercial security transaction is helpful: "A commercial security transaction relates to the secured lending to a customer of a bank or other lending institution where the purpose of the loan is clearly for the customer's business purposes".

B1.7: Conflict of Interest in relation to Outsourcing

You shall not act for two or more parties whose interests conflict.

Consent Form produced by the British Medical Association

Contact from Opponent’s Client It has come to the attention of the Professional Practice Committee that there is an increasing tendency for Defenders to telephone Pursuers' agents direct to discuss active cases.

The Society's Professional Practice and Property Law Committee’s view is that if a solicitor does not feel qualified to comment on environmental matters.

The Society shall manage and administer the contingency fund monies.