Regulators

We act for national and international regulatory authorities, professional regulatory bodies and professional membership associations across a broad range of sectors - undertaking investigatory, audit and prosecution work as well as advising on issues of governance, structures, powers, duties and policy.

Our acute understanding of the overarching principles of public interest and public protection permeates throughout our advice and support helping you to stand up to scrutiny, be accountable and achieve your objectives.  

Whether you regulate individual members or professionals, a sector, an industry, or any combination of these, our experienced team has the proven ability to advise on the diverse breadth of issues which your organisation and senior leadership team may face.

We have a leading reputation for helping to resolve matters without the need for litigation. However, when it’s required, we have the expertise and resources to lead on high profile, complex and sensitive contested matters, including judicial reviews, appeals, external investigations and public inquiries.

We can help you with:

• regulatory investigations and enforcement
• audits of regulatory functions, processes and decision making
• drafting and amending Royal Charters, Bye-Laws, Primary and Secondary legislation, Regulations, Rules, Standing Orders, Disciplinary processes, Guidance and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS)
• governance advice
• complaints handling
• professional indemnity insurance issues
• disputes and legal challenges – including defending Judicial Reviews and appeals 
• policy drafting – including conducting a lawful consultation process
• advocacy – case presenters and hearing representation in regulatory and disciplinary proceedings before specialist Committees, Panels, Tribunals, the High Court and Appellate courts
• freedom of Information requests
• data privacy and data protection – GDPR, Data Protection legislation in the UK and internationally
• disclosure/information sharing with other regulators and the police/prosecuting authorities

We’ve advised the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for many years on the use of its intervention powers and its client protection functions including the SRA Compensation Fund and insurance issues, particularly concerning aggregation under the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions for Professional Indemnity Insurance.

Our team’s extensive knowledge includes the regulatory framework under the Legal Services Act 2007 and related legislation. We’re also used to regularly working with the Professional Standards Authority framework for accredited registers.

We nurture long-standing, trusted advisor relationships with our clients. This means our in-depth knowledge of your operations combined with our understanding of the wider regulatory environment, enables us to rapidly respond when issues arise, as well as collaborate with you to identify new strategic risks and opportunities.

We’ve acted for the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Law Society of England & Wales, the Architects Registration Board, CILEX Regulation Limited, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP).

Within our team we also have specialist expertise in acting for regulatory authorities and professional regulatory bodies with powers to bring private prosecutions – for matters ranging from protection of title (on behalf of the General Dental Council), to breach of licensing offences and statutory nuisance – noise, smell, waste, smoke, light (on behalf of the Environment Agency and local authorities).

Industry expertise 

Our regulation and public law team have broad ranging sector and industry expertise including:

• legal 
• financial services
• health and social care 
• charities 
• sport 
• environment 
• transport
• education 
• policing
• technology, media and telecoms (TMT)

As a full-service law firm, we’re able to combine our multidisciplinary expertise and bring together specialists in regulation and public law with recognised experts in professional discipline, dispute resolution, charities, corporate and commercial, education and health and safety to deliver a comprehensive service to our clients.

Our team members are members of specialist professional associations and networks, frequently appearing as speakers and panel members at regulatory conferences and seminars as well as authoring legal publications. 

John Gould is the author of The Law of Legal Services and Practice, published by LexisNexis and Michael Stacey is a contributing author.

Here are some comments made about us.

Charges are usually based on our hourly rates plus administrative charges and disbursements. We’ll provide an initial estimate of your likely legal costs and will update this if your requirements or the circumstances of the work change.

If you instruct us on a volume of work and/or can offer us a fixed term contract we may be able to offer discounted hourly rates.

We also have a flexible and innovative approach to litigation funding which enables us to offer our clients a series of funding choices tailored to their particular requirements. We’re prepared to consider alternative forms of funding in appropriate cases.  

We’d be pleased to discuss your initial requirements free of charge.