SLCC finalises regulatory sanctions guidance

A guide to support legal professional organisations and disciplinary bodies in preparing their own guidance on the application of sanctions has been issued in its final form by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

The statement is intended to apply where the conduct of legal practitioners has been found to amount to either unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct.

It was prepared as part of the SLCC's oversight function of offering guidance to professional organisations and practitioners about their methods and systems for dealing with complaints, with the aim of improving complaint handling and increasing trust and confidence in Scottish legal services.

As well as issunig a draft of the guidance for comment, the SLCC held a round table event at which experts from a range of professional regulators, along with representatives from consumer and equality groups discussed the challenges around the application of sanctions and the practicalities of applying sanctions in a disciplinary context, as a means of knowledge gathering and sharing.

The SLCC emphasises that it is not seeking to create standardised sanctions guidance, as the professional bodies and tribunals are governed by different rules and regulations, and its guidance does not provide an exhaustive list of factors or rules to be applied. However it hopes that the key principles and practicalities identified will feed into any future guidance issued by the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, the Association of Commercial Attorneys and the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal, as well as any approved regulators appointed under the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010.

Click here to access the text of the guidance.