Firms consider IPS as an alternative regulator the SRA
updated on 15 January 2015
Law firms are now able to choose the regulator that is most appropriate for them following the establishment of ILEX Professional Standards (IPS) as an alternative to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
New and existing firms can now apply to be authorised by IPS instead of the SRA, while chartered legal executives are also now able to establish their own regulated businesses for the first time. Applications for authorisation opened on 5 January and 50 proposed businesses to be run by CILEx members have expressed interest since then, while IPS has also apparently been contacted by several existing firms enquiring whether they can switch regulator.
Alan Kershaw, chair of IPS, said: "This presents a great opportunity for many new and existing firms, who have a real choice of regulator for the first time. We are very clear about what that choice means. It does not mean a chance to escape scrutiny, or a decline in regulatory standards – it means a regulatory model that is best for your business, giving consumers the protection they need when seeking legal services. It also means that, if they want it, students starting out on the CILEx route are not limited in their career destinations, and can go on to be authorised to provide reserved legal services in one or more branches of the law either running their own practice, or as an employed lawyer."
