The SRA Handbook is no longer in effect. It was replaced by the SRA Standards and Regulations on 25 November 2019.
SRA Handbook
Version 3 of the Handbook was published on 20/04/2012. For more information, please click 'History' Above
Rule 13: Eligibility criteria and fundamental requirements for recognised bodies
- 13.1
-
To be eligible to be a recognised body, a body must be a legal services body namely a partnership, company or LLP of which:
- (a)
-
at least one manager is:
- (i)
-
a solicitor with a current practising certificate, or
issued under the SRA Practising Regulations, or - (ii)
-
an REL, or
- (iii)
-
(in the case of a partnership or LLP) a body corporate which is a legally qualified body with at least one manager who is a solicitor with a current practising certificate or an REL; and
- (b)
-
all of the managers and interest holders are lawyers and legally qualified bodies
, save that where another body ("A") is a manager of or has an interest in the body, non-authorised persons are entitled to exercise, or control the exercise of, less than 10% of the voting rights in A.
Services requirement
- 13.2
-
The business of a recognised body may consist only of the provision of:
- (a)
-
professional services of the sort provided by individuals practising as solicitors and/or lawyers of other jurisdictions; and
- (b)
-
professional services of the sort provided by notaries public, but only if a notary public is a manager or employee of a recognised body,
but this does not prevent a recognised body providing services within Chapter 12 (Separate businesses) of the SRA Code of Conduct, or holding an interest in a company which is a separate business.
-
Guidance notes
- (i)
-
Although most organisations which involve non-lawyers as managers or interest holders
ownersmust be licensed bodies, there is athelimited exception under section 72(2)in Rule 13.1(b) (following the termsof the LSA which)permits a small degree of non-lawyer involvement in recognised bodies. Where one or more bodies are involved in a firm as a manager or owner/interest holder, and in those bodiesthen the firm will remain a legal services body requiring recognition under theAJA, rather than a licensable body requiring a licence under the LSA, where non-authorised persons have only a de minimis (less than 10%) control by way of voting rights, then the firm will remain a legal services body requiring recognition under the AJA. Where the control is 10% or more, the firm will be a licensableover each (manager/owner)body. - (ii)
-
The services requirement in 13.2 should be read in conjunction with Chapter 12 of the SRA Code of Conduct. Certain services which could be offered through a "permitted separate business" (see Chapter 12) can also be provided in conjunction with a firm or in-house practice whilst still complying with the services requirement in 13.2. These services, which extend or fall outside the scope of the professional services mentioned in 13.2, are:
- (a)
-
education and training activities; and
- (b)
-
authorship, journalism and publishing.