Law Society launches OFR practice note ahead of major conference

28 September 2011

The Law Society is stepping up its guidance to solicitors on the new outcomes focused regulatory regime with the launch of an OFR practice note. The move comes ahead of the Society's Risk & Compliance Conference on October 6.

OFR is set to be implemented by the Solicitors Regulation Authority on October 6 and it is a shift away from a rules-based approach and focuses on high-level outcomes governing practice and the quality of outcomes for clients.

As part of its ongoing suite of initiatives aimed at providing support and advice to solicitors on OFR, the Society's practice note provides key guidance for all firms.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said:

“Most firms have been identifying and managing risks for a long time. Yet the demands of the Legal Services Act and OFR means that all firms - whatever their shape, size or location - will have to prioritise risk management.

“The Law Society is aware that practices require the necessary tools in order to be OFR compliant, which is why we are providing guidance to all members. These practice notes are the first step in the Society's plan of support to members.

“OFR, if implementedproperly and employed proportionately could provide a mechanism for cost effective, efficient and less prescriptive means of regulating the profession.”

The Law Society's Practice Advice Service, which can be contacted on 0870 606 2522 or at practiceadvice@lawsociety.org.uk, will be available for any supplementary guidance to the practice note, which itself follows on from the Law Society's Compliance Officers Practice Note which was launched earlier this month. That note focuses on a key element of the new regulatory framework - compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) and compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA).

Risk & Compliance Conference

The Society's practice notes comes ahead of the Law Society's Risk & Compliance Conference on October 6, which will have an OFR focus, as well as addressing issues for alternative business structures.

Desmond Hudson said: "With so much change in the legal sector on the horizon through OFR and ABS, membership of the Law Society's Risk & Compliance Service becomes even more crucial. This year's conference is set to be the most relevant yet."

Details of the Society's Risk and Compliance Service can be found here. Membership offers a range of additional initiatives and expertise aimed at allowing solicitors to become fully compliant and aware of OFR.

Online training for Compliance Officers for Legal Practice is also available on the Law Society's website.

The training covers how the COLP fits into the new regulatory regime, who qualifies and why, explanation of the role and duties of COLPs and the relationships between COLPs and the rest of the firm.

A series of Law Society OFR seminars are already taking place across the country.

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