On 11 March, the Solicitors Regulation Authority successfully appealed against the SDT’s dismissal of allegations against international firm Dentons over alleged historical breaches of money laundering regulations.
Chair John Gould, who is a leading authority in the field of professional regulation, was referenced at length in the decision by Mrs Justice Lang, who states that the SRA relied upon the analysis in Gould: The Law of Legal Services and Practice for the appeal.
“The SRA relied upon the analysis in Gould: The Law of Legal Services and Practice… for the following propositions: i) rules may be expressed as capable of being breached without the need for fault on the part of the entity or person responsible for compliance with them (e.g. breaches of Account Rules), in order to maintain public confidence (4.9 – 4.20), and ii) at the sanction stage, all of the conventional factors pertaining to the seriousness of the matter may be prayed in aid as relevant. For large corporate entities, substantial financial penalties may be required.”
The rationale of a regulatory provision of this type is helpfully explained by Gould… he sets out his overall view in the introduction that a rule breach may justify a significant penalty for the purposes of deterrence and public confidence without the need to show that any individual is culpable or that systems are inadequate.
Although he accepts at 4.9 that most rules are drafted in terms which require misconduct in order to be breached, he states as a general proposition that some rules may be breached without the need for fault on the part of the entity or person responsible for compliance with them.
The full decision in Solicitors Regulation Authority Limited v Dentons UK and Middle East LLP [2025] can be found here.
John Gould is Chair of Russell-Cooke and partner in the regulation and public law team. He advises regulators, government departments, law enforcement agencies, charities and statutory & professional bodies in connection with complex regulatory issues.
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