Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal
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Our Constitution and Procedures

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Constitution

The Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal constitutionally is independent of the Law Society and is established by virtue of Section 46 Solicitors Act 1974. It is largely funded by the Law Society. Its members are appointed by the Master of the Rolls and are either solicitors of not less than ten years' standing or lay-members who must be neither solicitors nor barristers. There is no statutory limit on the total number of members of the Tribunal but at present it comprises twenty solicitor members and ten lay-members. In 2006 it is proposed to recruit some new additional members.

For the purpose of hearing and determining applications, the Tribunal members sit in divisions of three, comprising two solicitor members and one lay-member. A solicitor is the Chairman of the division.

The Tribunal is empowered, with the concurrence of the Master of the Rolls, to make rules governing its procedure and this power is exercisable by statutory instrument.

For applications lodged from 14th January 2008 onwards the rules are the Solicitors (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules 2007 [S.I.2007/3588]

For applications lodged prior to that date the rules are the Solicitors (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules 1994 [S.I 1994 /288] ("The Rules").

Practice Direction 1

Practice Direction 2

Practice Direction 3

Practice Direction 4

Policy & Practice Notes on Adjournment

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Staff

The staff of the Tribunal, headed by the Clerk, form a small close-knit and hardworking team, and they will be pleased to assist with any enquiry you may have. The staff cannot, of course, give you advice but will help you to ascertain appropriate sources of advice.

Please note that no members of the Tribunal enter into any personal correspondence or communication. Any letter or other communication addressed to an individual member will be dealt with by the Clerk.

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Functions

The principal function of the Tribunal is to hear and determine applications in respect of solicitors relating to allegations of professional misconduct or breaches of the Rules and/or Code relating to professional practice. The vast majority of applications to the Tribunal are made on behalf of the Solicitors Regulation Authority but, subject to a few instances under the Act where applications are limited to the Law Society alone, it is open to anyone to make a direct application to the Tribunal.

The Tribunal's jurisdiction extends to Registered Foreign Lawyers, Registered EEC Lawyers, and the legal entities through which such lawyers practise.  The Tribunal also has jurisdiction in respect of persons, not qualified solicitors, that solicitors employ or remunerate.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is always represented before the Tribunal.  Respondents can be represented if they wish, but this is not a requirement.

Applications to the Tribunal must be made in the form specified by the Rules supported by a statement containing an outline of the facts of the case and setting out the allegations of which the respondent to the application is required to answer.

Applications are lodged with the Clerk to the Tribunal. The Tribunal's first duty is to determine whether or not there is a case for the respondent to answer. Each application together with its supporting documents is considered in accordance with the Rules. If satisfied that a case to answer has been established a date is set for a "pre-listing day". The respondent to the application is notified of that date and served by the Tribunal with copies of the application and the supporting documents.

The pre-listing is an administrative procedure at which the respondent’s plea, dates to avoid and estimate of the length of the hearing are taken into account. The substantive hearing date is fixed.

Whilst it is open to any person to make an application to the Tribunal direct it is more usual for a complainant first to approach the Legal Complaints Service for a matter to be investigated. In the event that an application by a member of the public is made direct to the Tribunal it may refer it to the appropriate body to conduct an investigation and/or pursue the complainant's original application on his behalf.

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Hearings are usually in public

It is the practice of the Tribunal to hear applications in public in accordance with its Rules but it has power under the Rules, on the application of either party, to consent to all or part of the case being heard in private.

At the hearing itself either party may be represented or may appear in person.

Either party may call witnesses and the evidential procedures of the Tribunal - for example in relation to disclosure and/or admission of documents - are broadly in line with those of the High Court. Evidence before the Tribunal is given on oath and it has power to accept affidavit evidence. The strict rules of evidence do not apply

In the event of a respondent failing to appear at the hearing the Tribunal may dispose of the case in his absence. There is power to order a re-hearing if that is sought by a Respondent who can satisfactorily explain why he has not appeared at the substantive hearing.

It is the practice of the Tribunal to decide if the allegations have been substantiated and at the conclusion of the hearing the Tribunal's written Order is immediately available. The Order takes effect as soon as it is filed with the Law Society. Normally such filing is achieved straight away. Detailed written Findings are produced and made available as soon as possible after the hearing.

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Findings

The Tribunal's written Order is immediately available at the end of the hearing and takes effect as soon as it is filed with the Law Society. Detailed written Findings are produced and made available as soon as possible after the hearing.   The Tribunal aims to produce its written Findings within six weeks of the hearing, but the time taken to produce this document will reflect the length and complexity of the hearing and its unpredictable interaction with the Tribunal's other work.

Written Findings are published on the Solicitors Regulation Authority's website. 

Visit the Solicitors Regulation Authority website

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Powers of the Disciplinary Tribunal

The Tribunal's powers are defined by Solicitors Act 1974 Section 47 (as amended by the Administration of Justice Act 1985 and the Courts & Legal Services Act 1990) which also grants it discretion to make such order as it thinks right in respect of any application save one made under Section 43 (relating to solicitors' clerks) and under Section 42 where the sanction to be imposed is mandatory. In particular the Tribunal may order:

(a) the striking off the Roll of the name of the solicitor to whom the application or complaint relates;

(b) the suspension of that solicitor from practice indefinitely or for a specified period;

(c) fines imposed by the Tribunal do not have a limit and shall be forfeit to Her Majesty;

(d) in the circumstances referred to in subsection (2A), the exclusion of that solicitor from legal aid work (either permanently or for a specified period);

(e) the termination of that solicitor's unspecified period of suspension from practice;

(f) the restoration to the Roll of the name of a former solicitor whose name has been struck off the Roll and to whom the application relates;

(g) in the case of a former solicitor whose name has been removed from the Roll, a direction prohibiting the restoration of his name to the Roll except by order of the Tribunal;

(h) in the case of an application under subsection (1)(F), the restoration of the applicant's name to the Roll;

(i) the payment by any party of costs or a contribution towards costs of such amount as the Tribunal may consider reasonable.

The Tribunal may also direct that a direction of the Law Society in respect of inadequate professional services on the part of a solicitor, be treated for the purpose of enforcement as if it were contained in an Order of the High Court. Orders of the Tribunal are treated as Orders of the High Court. The Tribunal may also order payment of costs by either side. Cases where the application is founded on breaches of the Solicitors Accounts Rules and such breaches are proved at the hearing of the application by his report and/or his oral evidence the Tribunal will order the Respondent to pay the costs of the Law Society’s forensic investigator.

It is the practice of the Tribunal when making an Order for the payment of costs, to order fixed costs if it has sufficient detail. If not it directs that the costs be subject to a detailed assessment if not agreed between the parties.

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Fines and costs

Fines go to HM Treasury. The Tribunal can order payment of costs or a contribution towards costs of such amount as the Tribunal may consider reasonable which in appropriate cases can include the costs of the Law Society's Investigation Accountant. The Tribunal does not award compensation. However, if following a Finding by the Law Society of inadequate professional services on the part of a solicitor the Law Society makes a Direction that compensation be paid, the Tribunal may order that such Direction be treated, for the purpose of enforcement, as if it were contained in an Order of the High Court.

The Tribunal may make an Order for the payment of a fixed amount of costs. In other cases the Order will be for a detailed assessment to be made by a Costs Judge.

Applications in respect of persons employed or remunerated by a solicitor in connection with his practice

The Solicitors Act 1974, Section 43 (as amended), empowered the Law Society to make an application to the Tribunal for an Order controlling the employment of a person who is or was a clerk to a solicitor. When the relevant provisions of the Access to Justice Act 1999 came into force the Law Society as well as the Tribunal gained power to make an order pursuant to Section 43 in respect of persons employed or remunerated by a solicitor in connection with his practice.

Where the Society has made such an order the person in respect of whom that order has been made may make an application to the Tribunal for review when the Tribunal may quash, vary or confirm the order.

The Tribunal has power to revoke a Section 43 Order which has been made by the Tribunal.

The effect of a Section 43 Order is to vest in the Law Society control of the future employment of its subject in a solicitor's practice. Whilst the Order remains in force any solicitor wishing to employ the subject must first obtain the written consent of the Law Society to do so.

Applications under Section 41 of the Solicitors Act

A solicitor who knowingly employs or remunerates a solicitor who has been struck off or suspended without the consent of the Law Society faces a mandatory penalty of strike off or suspension.

Application for restoration to the Roll

The Tribunal has power to restore to the Roll the name of a former solicitor whose name has been struck off the Roll. An application in such a case must be supported by an affidavit setting out details of the original Order of the Tribunal, dealing fully with the history of the applicant's employment thereafter and indicating his future intentions as to employment within the profession in the event that the application is successful.

An application for restoration is not to be regarded as an appeal against the decision to strike off. The Tribunal’s function when considering an application for restoration is to determine whether the applicant has established that he is now a fit and proper person to have his name restored to the Roll. Certain factors are, however, taken into account by the Tribunal in deciding whether to grant an application for restoration. These may be summarised as follows:

(i) The application should not be premature having regard to the time which has elapsed since the original Order striking the solicitor's name off the Roll was made. An applicant cannot expect to have his name restored to the Roll within six years of the original Order striking off save in the most exceptional circumstances.

(ii) Clear evidence of the applicant's rehabilitation must be adduced together with evidence that he has been employed preferably in the solicitors' profession in the intervening period or, at least, has held employment in a position of trust again preferably in a legal environment.

(iii) The Tribunal places particular emphasis on the applicant's future intentions and whether another solicitor would be willing to employ him in connection with his practice in the event that the applicant's name is restored to the Roll.

(iv) Indebtedness to the Compensation Fund, although not a bar to restoration, is a factor always taken into account by the Tribunal when considering applications of this nature. The applicant must be in a position to demonstrate that he has made a sustained effort to meet any liability to the Fund and, where appropriate, that the effort will continue in the event of restoration.

(v) A criminal conviction recorded against an applicant involving dishonesty or a finding of dishonesty by the Tribunal can constitute an all but insurmountable obstacle to a successful application for restoration.

In a Judgment of July 1987, the Master of the Rolls made it clear that the solicitor seeking restoration must not only prove his fitness to be a solicitor but it must be demonstrated that his restoration to the Roll would not adversely affect the good name and reputation of the solicitors' profession nor would it be contrary to the interests of the public. The Tribunal should not be swayed by the argument that a decision not to restore is hard on the individual concerned.

The Law Society is the respondent to such an application for restoration.

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Appeals

Following the enactment of The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 4) Rules 2004 [2004 No 3419], RSC Order 106 has been revoked. Certain provisions of RSC Order 106 have been omitted from the new rules as they are already covered by general provisions of the CPR. The rules governing appeals from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to the High Court were not included in the new Part 67 of the Civil Procedure Rules but in an amendment to Practice Direction 52 which came into force at the same time as Part 67.

Practice Direction 52 supplements part 52 and deals with procedure relating to appeals.

Paragraph 5.19. provides that the appeal period is fourteen days (as the Tribunal has made no direction about the length of the appeal period.)

Paragraph 22.6B sets out in detail the procedure to be followed in relation to Appeals under Section 49 of the Solicitors Act 1974.

It is of assistance to the Tribunal if its Clerk is sent a copy of the notice of appeal so that its records can be amended to show that there is an outstanding appeal and eventually the outcome.

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The Tribunal's budget is approved by the Legal Services Board in consultation with the Law Society  The Law Society collects from individual solicitors an amount to fund the Tribunal as part of its exercise to collect fees in connection with its issuance of practising certificates.

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