SRA Handbook

Interpretation

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Version 1 of the Handbook was published on 16/09/2011. For more information, please click 'History' Above

Part 1: Interpretation

Regulation 1: Interpretation and definitions

1.1

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions and interpretation provisions as set out within the SRA Glossary shall apply to these regulations.

1.2

In these regulations:

academic stage of training

means that stage of the training of an entrant to the solicitors' profession which is completed by satisfying regulation 3 of the SRA Training Regulations Part 1 - Qualification Regulations, and "academic stage" should be construed accordingly;

adequate training

under a training contract means:

(i)

gaining at least three months' experience in each of at least three different areas of English law;

(ii)

developing skills in both contentious and non-contentious areas; and

(iii)

being given the opportunity to practise and/or observe the activities set out in the Practice Skills Standards;

assets

includes money, documents, wills, deeds, investments and other property;

barrister

means a person called to the bar by one of the Inns of Court and who has completed pupillage and is authorised by the General Council of the Bar to practise as a barrister;

certificate of training

means the certification by a training principal that a trainee has received training in accordance with the SRA Training Regulations Part 2 - Training Provider Regulations;

character and suitability

satisfies the requirement of section 3 of the SA in order that an individual shall be admitted as a solicitor;

client

means the person for whom you act and where the context permits, includes prospective and former clients;

client money

has the meaning given in Rule 12 of the SRA Accounts Rules, save that for the purposes of Part 7 (Overseas practice) of the SRA Accounts Rules, means money received or held for or on behalf of a client or trust (but excluding money which is held or received by a multi-disciplinary practice-a licensed body providing a range of different services-in relation to those activities for which it is not regulated by the SRA);

company

means a company registered under the Companies Acts, an overseas company incorporated in an Establishment Directive state and registered under the Companies Act 1985 and/or the Companies Act 2006 or a societas Europaea;

director

means a director of a company; and in relation to a societas Europaea includes:

(i)

in a two-tier system, a member of the management organ and a member of the supervisory organ; and

(ii)

in a one-tier system, a member of the administrative organ;

firm

means:

(i)

subject to sub-paragraph (ii) and (v) below, an authorised body, a recognised sole practitioner or a body or individual which should be authorised by the SRA as a recognised body or recognised sole practitioner (but which could not be authorised by another approved regulator);

(i)

for the purposes of the SRA Accounts Rules, "firm" has the same meaning as at sub-paragraph (i) above but can also include in-house practice;

(ii)

in Part G (Overseas practice) of the SRA Accounts Rules, any business through which a solicitor or REL carries on practice other than in-house practice;

(iii)

in the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules:

(A)

any recognised sole practitioner; or

(B)

any recognised body (as constituted from time to time); or

(C)

any solicitor or REL who is a sole practitioner, unless that sole practitioner is a non-SRA firm; or

(D)

any partnership (as constituted from time to time) which is eligible to become a recognised body and which meets the requirements applicable to recognised bodies set out in the SRA Practice Framework Rules, SRA Recognised Bodies Regulations 2011 (until 31 March 2012), and the SRA Authorisation Rules (from 31 March 2012), unless that partnership is a non-SRA firm; or

(E)

any licensed body in respect of its regulated activities, whether before or during any relevant indemnity period;

(iv)

in the SRA European Cross-border Rules, means any business through which a solicitor or REL carries on practice other than in-house practice;

in-house practice

means practice as a solicitor, REL or RFL (as appropriate) in accordance with Rules 1.1(c)(ii)(B), 1.1(d)(ii)(B), 1.1(e), 1.2(f), 2.1(c)(ii)(B), 2.1(d)(ii)(B), 2.1(e), 2.2(f), 3.1(b)(ii)(B) or 3.1(c)(ii)(B) of the SRA Practice Framework Rules;

LPC 

means a Legal Practice Course, namely a course the satisfactory completion of which is recognised by us as satisfying, in part, the vocational stage of training;

manager

means:

(i)

a member of an LLP;

(ii)

a director of a company;

(iii)

a partner in a partnership; or

(iv)

in relation to any other body, a member of its governing body;

save that for the purposes of:

(v)

Part 7 (Overseas practice) of the SRA Accounts Rules "a manager" includes the director of any company, and is not limited to the director of a company as defined herein; and

(vi)

the SRA Cost of Investigations Regulations and the SRA Disciplinary Procedure Rules where in (iii) above terms partner and partnership are to be given their natural meaning;

member

means:

(i)

in relation to a company a person who has agreed to be a member of the company and whose name is entered in the company's register of members; and

(ii)

in relation to an LLP, a member of that LLP;

modular training contract

means a training contract in which employment and training is provided by a training contract consortium, each member of which has a defined contribution to training process and content;

owner

means, in relation to a body, a person with any ownership interest in the body, save that:

(i)

in the SRA Authorisation Rules owner means any person who holds a material interest in an authorised body, and in the case of a partnership, any partner regardless of whether they hold a material interest in the partnership; and

(ii)

for the purposes of Chapter 12 of the SRA Code of Conduct means a person having a substantial ownership interest in a separate business and "own" and "owned by" shall be construed accordingly;

(iii)

for the purposes of the SRA Suitability Test includes owners who have no active role in the running of the business as well as owners who do;

parent training establishment

means one member of a training contract consortium which is authorised to take trainees and which has appointed a training principal who is responsible for the training of the training contract consortium's trainees;

partner

means a person who is or is held out as a partner in a partnership save for in the SRA Accounts Rules, in which it means an individual who is or is held out as a partner in a partnership;

practice

means the activities, in that capacity, of:

(i)

a solicitor;

(ii)

an REL, from an office or offices within the UK;

(iii)

a member of an Establishment Directive profession registered with the BSB under the Establishment Directive, carried out from an office or offices in England and Wales;

(iv)

an RFL, from an office or offices in England and Wales as:

(A)

an employee of a recognised sole practitioner;

(B)

a manager, employee or owner of an authorised body or of an authorised non-SRA firm; or

(C)

a manager, employee or owner of a body which is a manager or owner of an authorised body or of an authorised non-SRA firm;

(v)

an authorised body;

(vi)

a manager of an authorised body;

(vii)

a person employed in England and Wales by an authorised body or recognised sole practitioner;

(viii)

a lawyer of England and Wales; or

(ix)

an authorised non-SRA firm;

and "practise" and "practising" should be construed accordingly; save for in:

(x)

the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules where "practice" means the whole or such part of the private practice of a firm as is carried on from one or more offices in England and Wales; and

(xi)

the SRA Indemnity Rules where it means a practice to the extent that:

(A)

in relation to a licensed body, it carries on regulated activities; and

(B)

in all other cases, it carries on private practice providing professional services as a sole solicitor or REL or as a partnership of a type referred to in Rule 6.1(d) to 6.1(f) and consisting of or including one or more solicitors and/or RELs, and shall include the business or practice carried on by a recognised body in the providing of professional services such as are provided by individuals practising in private practice as solicitors and/or RELs or by such individuals in partnership with RFLs, whether such practice is carried on by the recognised body alone or in partnership with one or more solicitors, RELs and/or other recognised bodies;

Practice Skills Standards

means the standards published by us which set out the practice skills trainees will develop during the training contract and use when qualified;

Principles

means the Principles in the SRA Handbook;

PSC

means the Professional Skills Course, namely, a course normally completed during the training contract, building upon the LPC, providing training in Financial and Business Skills, Advocacy and Communication Skills, and Client Care and Professional Standards. Satisfactory completion of the PSC is recognised by us as satisfying, in part, the vocational stage of training;

PSC provider

means an organisation authorised by us to provide the PSC under the SRA Training Regulations Part 2 - Training Provider Regulations;

PSC Standards

means the standards which set out the content of, and level of achievement required from individuals studying, the PSC;

REL

means registered European lawyer, namely, an individual registered with the SRA under regulation 17 of the European Communities (Lawyer's Practice) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 no. 1119).

RFL

means registered foreign lawyer, namely, an individual registered with the SRA under section 89 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990;

SA

means the Solicitors Act 1974;

satisfactory completion

of a course or courses means:

(i)

passing all the examinations and assessments required; and/or

(ii)

where appropriate having part or parts awarded through condonation, deemed pass, or exemption;

in order to graduate from or pass an assessable course of study, and being awarded a certificate from the course provider confirming this. "Satisfactorily completed" should be construed accordingly;

seats

means an arrangement where a trainee works in different departments of, or in different roles within, a training establishment in order to gain exposure to different areas of law;

secondment

means an arrangement between a training establishment and another employer for a part of the period of a training contract;

solicitor

means a person who has been admitted as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and whose name is on the roll kept by the Society under section 6 of the SA, save that in the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules includes a person who practises as a solicitor whether or not he or she has in force a practising certificate and also includes practice under home title of a former REL who has become a solicitor;

SRA 

means the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and reference to the SRA as an approved regulator or licensing authority means the SRA carrying out regulatory functions assigned to the Society as an approved regulator or licensing authority;

SRA Suitability Test

means the SRA Suitability Test 2011;

SRA Training Regulations

means the SRA Training Regulations 2011;

student enrolment

means the process where we satisfy ourselves that a student who intends to proceed to the vocational stage of training has satisfactorily completed the academic stage of training and is of the appropriate character and suitability. "Enrolment" should be construed accordingly, and "certificate of enrolment" should be construed as evidence of student enrolment;

take a trainee

means the entering into a training contract with an individual by a training establishment, and "take trainees" and "taking trainees" should be construed accordingly;

trainee solicitor

means any person receiving workplace training with the express purpose of qualification as a solicitor, at an authorised training establishment, under a training contract, and "trainee" should be construed accordingly;

training contract

means a written contract, complying with the SRA Training Regulations, between one or more training establishments and a trainee solicitor, setting out the terms and conditions of the workplace training the trainee will receive;

training contract consortium

means an arrangement between more than one employer, one of which is authorised to take trainees, to provide a training contract (referred to in the SRA Training Regulations Part 2 - Training Provider Regulations as a modular training contract);

training contract record

means a record maintained by a trainee recording the experience that the trainee is getting and the skills that the trainee is developing within a training contract;

training establishment

means an organisation, body, firm, company, in-house practice or individual authorised by us under the SRA Training Regulations Part 2 - Training Provider Regulations to take and train a trainee solicitor;

training principal

means any solicitor who:

(i)

holds a current practising certificate;

(ii)

has held immediately prior to a current practising certificate four consecutive practising certificates;

(iii)

is nominated by a training establishment as such;

(iv)

is a partner, manager, director, owner, or has equivalent seniority and/or managerial status; and

(v)

has undertaken such training as we may prescribe;

and for the purposes of (ii) above a solicitor who has been an REL for a continuous period before their admission as a solicitor can use each complete year of registration as the equivalent of having held one practising certificate. A Government Legal Service solicitor 

with appropriate seniority, experience and training will be exempt from the practising certificate requirements for training principals;

us

means the SRA, and "we", "our" and "ourselves" should be construed accordingly;

vocational stage of training

means that stage of the training of an entrant to the solicitors' profession which is completed by:

(i)

satisfactory completion of an LPC;

or

(ii)

satisfactory completion of an Exempting Law Degree or Integrated Course;

and

(iii)

subject to regulations 30, 31 and 32 of the SRA Training Regulations Part 1 - Qualification Regulations, serving under a training contract; and

(iv)

satisfactory completion of a PSC and such other course or courses as we may from time to time prescribe;

Voluntary Code of Good Practice

means a code agreed by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, the Association of Graduate Recruiters, the Junior Lawyers Division and us to assist all concerned with the recruitment of law degree students and non-law degree students as trainee solicitors.