City Research Online

Abstract

The Legal Services Act 2007 effected major changes in the disciplinary system for solicitors in England Wales. Both the practice regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and a disciplinary body, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, were reconstituted as independent bodies and given new powers. Our concern is the impact of the Act on the disciplinary system for solicitors. Examination of this issue involves consideration of changes to regulatory institutions and the mechanics of practice regulation. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality, empirical evidence drawn from disciplinary cases handled by the SDT and the SRA in 2015 is used to explore potentially different conceptions of discipline informing the work of the regulatory institutions. The conclusion considers the implications of our findings for the future of the professional disciplinary system.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article has been published in a revised form in Legal Studies http://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2018.45. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution or re-use. © The Society of Legal Scholars 2019.
Publisher Keywords:	practice, profession and ethics, lawyers’ discipline, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority, Legal Services Act 2007
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General) K Law > KD England and Wales
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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