SRA state “we haven’t failed to act”
Following our story “The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) fails to act against those writing bad wills”, published yesterday, the SRA has asked us to point out that Elisabeth Davies, Chairman of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, did not state that the SRA had “failed to act” but simply they were “unaware of any action”.
In a letter to the Legal Services Board she states “Our jointly commissioned research found that solicitors and unregulated will-writers were equally culpable for producing sub-standard wills. However, while we are heartened by trade association initiatives to correct problems, we are unaware of any action to date by the SRA.”
Full details of Elisabeth Davies’ letter can be found here
In response, Antony Townsend, SRA Chief Executive, said: “The SRA strongly supports the LSB’s proposal that the list of reserved legal activities be extended to include will writing and estate administration. This step is necessary to secure the public interest. Consumers of these services are often particularly vulnerable and prone to exploitation; they need the protections which only proportionate regulation can provide.
In addition to undertaking supervision and enforcement activity where particular problems arise with will writing, we are now discussing with all our stakeholders how to improve standards of will writing both within the existing regulated sector and in the proposed new regulated community of will writers.”
Pavilion Row is happy to clarify the situation and apologise for any confusion.
