Michael Napier

20The viewsHigh on the agenda:PC RenewalsEnsuring that the 2012 round ofPractising Certificate renewalsis a more reliable experience thanlast year’s has been at the top ofthe SRA’s agenda. We recognisethat the last renewals round wasnot acceptable and since then wehave undertaken significant workto enhance the system and theuser experience.The planned enhancements have been implementedand we are confident that the system is now stable. Byengaging with a large number of representatives, fromsole practitioners to those working in large global firms,we have listened to the views of those we regulate andused this feedback to decide how best to reshape thesystem in a way that is practical for all branches of theregulated community.Because of time constraints, it has not been possibleto include all the changes that we would have liked thisyear, but with the help of those we regulate, we haveprioritised the issues to ensure we addressed those thatmattered most. These include:• Making applications simpler and easier to complete.This includes an overhaul of the flow and wording ofquestions and related guidance text• Making it possible for organisational contacts in eachfirm to process the bulk applications on behalf ofcolleagues, giving firms greater control over the waythey complete the PC renewal exercise• Enabling one-click ‘record complete’, allowingmultiple records to be confirmed as correct duringbulk renewal applications• Improved searching and sorting of an individual’srecords to make viewing and editing easier• Increasing the support available within our ContactCentre so that queries can be answered more promptly.We have been communicating extensively with allfirms and individuals to ensure those we regulate areaware of the changes and know how to process theirapplications. We believe we have a system that willmake the 2012 renewals process more streamlinedand efficient. This does not mean it is perfect. We willcontinue to improve our online systems and to movemore application services online during 2013.PC renewals will commence on 1 November and closeon 14 December 2012. This will give firms two weekslonger than the traditional one-month period allowedfor completion of renewal applications, to assist firms inscheduling the process.Full details of the renewals exercise can be found on ourwebsite @ www.sra.org.uk/mysra/services/renewal.pageBy Richard Collins, Executive Director, SolicitorsRegulation Authority (SRA) www.sra.org.ukTrack changes:EthicsOne of the many myths aroundAlternative Business Structures isthat they aren’t necessarily going tolead to a decline in ethical standards.Those consumers swindled in theminers’ compensation scandal mightbe forgiven for thinking that the statusquo couldn’t get worse. But, of course,that’s no more the experience of thevast majority of legal consumers than it is the experience ofthe consumers in the wider economy. Strong business andprofessional ethics have to be at the heart of any successfullong-term business, especially in legal services. They ensurethat the interests of customers, the legal system, andproviders are considered equally. This has ensured that legalservices in England and Wales are among the best in theworld and the first choice for international legal transactions.But how do we get beyond a picture of ethics which variesbetween Pollyanna at one extreme and the Big Bad Wolf atthe other?Whether the risks presented by change are real orimagined can only be monitored by considered, robustand independent research. In September 2012 the LSBpublished a report by Professor Richard Moorhead thatconsiders how it would be possible to benchmark and trackchanges in the ethics and behaviour of providers of legalservices. The model developed in the report analyses howthe character of those supplying legal services, the contextin which they work, and the capacities they have, interact toinfluence their behaviour.The report does not propose developing a simple l scoreor single number to represent a global view of how ethicalproviders are. But the approach would allow changes inethical norms to be tracked over a period of time throughanalysing responses to ethical concepts or scenarios.Benchmarking ethics is complicated both by therange of legal service providers and the complexity ofthe subject matter itself. Moorhead proposes a rangeof approaches to getting the information, ranging fromsurveys to individual interviews, to using the data thatregulators collect. Together a range of sources canprovide a rounded overall picture of change in the marketwhich could highlight emerging risks.Whether in the traditional professions, or in new businessesentering the market, understanding how attitudes andbehaviours change is vital. Behaviour in complying withregulation is driven by the principles and ethics of thosemanaging and supplying the services. Benchmarking is clearlycomplex, but we believe worthwhile. While we do not considerthat carrying out the benchmarking itself is necessarily the roleof the LSB, we hope that others will take the tools developedin this report and use them to monitor over time the attitudesof suppliers of legal services.For the full report, please visit:www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/what_we_do/Research/Publications/pdf/designing_ethics_indicators_for_legal_services_provision_lsb_report_sep_2012.pdfBy Chris Kenny, Chief Executive, Legal Services BoardML // November 2012