The body announced today (10 January) that it will invite views from consumers, representative bodies and providers of legal services on the test, which seeks to evaluate the character and suitability of non-lawyer partners working in Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs).
Under the terms of the Legal Sevices Act, up to 25% of partners in a law firm can be non-lawyers, although they may be required to demonstrate that they are more than simply investors and are suitable candidates for delivering legal services.
The consultation, which closes on the 31 March, comes after the SRA announced plans for the test in November.
Commenting on the move, SRA chair Peter Williamson said: “The changes enabled by the Legal Services Act are exciting but our over-riding priority must be to ensure that only people with right levels of honesty and integrity are allowed to join Legal Disciplinary Practices. Otherwise, public confidence in the legal profession would be harmed.”
He added: “We’ve adopted certain principles to guide our approach to ensuring that non-lawyer managers of LDPs will be suitable people. We are now consulting widely to ensure that our approach is the correct one.”
