Three law firms received £750 fines last week for failing to comply with the SRA’s transparency rules. Breaches included failure to publish information explaining key stages and likely timescales for services, failure to publish details on experience and qualifications of those working on areas covered by the rules, and failure to include information on disbursement costs and VAT in published prices.
The SRA, which introduced its fixed penalty regime in May, said it has other live cases which could result in fixed penalties for not complying with the transparency rules. Non-compliance could lead to a second fine of £1,500.
Paul Philip, Chief Executive of the SRA, said: ‘We brought in fixed penalties so we could deal with non-complex breaches of our rules more swiftly.’
