Legal Services SQE notes.

A man who is not a solicitor and is not authorised by any legal services regulator runs a business advising small companies. A company that has agreed to buy a freehold warehouse asks him to handle the purchase and the paperwork that goes with it. He is willing to do whatever he lawfully can, and to refer anything else to an authorised person.

Which of the following steps must the man refer to an authorised person?

1. Advising the company on its rights under the sale contract.
2. Preparing the transfer of the freehold for registration at the Land Registry. Correct
3. Negotiating the purchase price and the completion date with the seller.
4. Drafting the board minutes approving the purchase of the warehouse.
5. Checking the local authority searches and reporting the results to the company's directors.

A firm is instructed by a new client on a personal injury claim. The client is registered blind, reads documents using screen-reader software, and asks for the client care letter and terms of business as accessible electronic files. The firm's practice manager replies that the firm sends everything by post in standard print, that converting the documents would take staff time the firm cannot spare, and that the client is welcome to pay for the conversion.

Must the firm provide the documents in the format the client has asked for?

1. Yes, but only once the client has complained formally under the firm's complaints procedure.
2. Yes, because a service provider must make reasonable adjustments for a disabled client, in anticipation of need. Correct
3. No, because the duty to make reasonable adjustments applies only to a firm's physical premises.
4. No, because the firm may recover the cost of any adjustment from the client who needs it.
5. No, because the duty arises only where a firm already produces documents in more than one format.

A solicitor holding a current practising certificate is employed in the legal department of a manufacturing company. The company is not authorised by the SRA. A director asks the solicitor to send a letter to a supplier stating that a payment has already been made, which the solicitor knows to be untrue. The supplier has asked for written confirmation before releasing the next delivery. When the solicitor objects, the director replies that the SRA's rules govern law firms, and that the solicitor's only duty is to the company that employs and pays them.

Is the director right that the SRA's Code does not apply to the solicitor?

1. No, because the Code applies to a solicitor personally, wherever the solicitor works. Correct
2. No, because a company that employs a solicitor becomes subject to SRA regulation itself.
3. No, because the letter would mislead a third party, the only situation reaching in-house work.
4. Yes, because the Code binds only solicitors practising in firms that the SRA authorises.
5. Yes, because an employed solicitor owes duties to the employer that directs the work.

The SRA proposes to change its rules on the way firms hold client money, and has said the change will take effect next year. A group of firms considers it unnecessary and expensive. They are told that the SRA cannot bring the new rules into force on its own, and that another body must first approve the alteration. The approval turns on whether the change is compatible with the regulatory objectives set out in the Act. One of the firms suggests writing instead to the Law Society, on the basis that the SRA is its regulatory arm, and another suggests the Ministry of Justice.

Which body oversees the SRA and must approve the proposed rule change?

1. The Ministry of Justice, as the department responsible for the administration of justice.
2. The Law Society, as the representative body for solicitors in England and Wales.
3. The Legal Services Board, which supervises approved regulators against the regulatory objectives. Correct
4. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which sets the standards that the SRA then enforces.
5. The Legal Ombudsman, which oversees the handling of complaints about legal services.