Second Risk Outlook gets autumn update

Second Risk Outlook gets autumn update

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published an update to the Risk Outlook 2015.

The SRA promised to update the Outlook twice a year and the autumn update was released this week. The Outlook provides firms and consumers with a clear view of the Authority’s assessment of significant trends in the legal services market. It also profiles key risks and explains what is meant by each of them, why they are significant and the regulatory approaches to managing them.

Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive, said: "We cannot totally eliminate risk, the purpose of the Outlook is to ensure firms are aware of the risks they may face and help them to plan ahead.

"In response to interest expressed by firms about particular topics, we have also produced two papers to accompany the update. They deal with anti-money laundering – around which we have already launched a campaign to raise awareness – and bogus firms.

"As always, we’d urge firms to look at the Outlook and the supporting papers and apply the information they contain to their firm accordingly."

The Risk Outlook is produced by reviewing the current legal services market to understand better the drivers of risk to the regulatory objectives. Risks are prioritised and placed into two categories — current and priority. The Outlook can be accessed here: http://www.sra.org.uk/risk/outlook/risk-outlook-autumn-2014-update.page.

The Outlook forms part of the overall approach to risk management. In December 2012, the SRA published the Regulatory Risk Framework (http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/strategy/risk-framework/regulatory-risk-framework.page) to explain how it identifies, assesses and controls risks to the delivery of the right regulatory outcomes for consumers of legal services.

The SRA has also published the Regulatory Risk Index within the Framework, which provides an overview of all the regulatory risks it manages. The Risk Index can be found here: http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/strategy/risk-framework/risk-index.page.

The SRA’s approach to risk received one of the highest accolades in February when it was Highly Commended by the Institute of Risk Management at the Global Risk Awards 2014. Further information on the awards is available here: http://www.irmawards.org/.

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