Anyone any experience of dealing with SRA and reporting a solicitor?

[Jade1965]

I am just wondering if anyone has had to deal with the SRA regarding misconduct of a solicitor. I was under the impression they were neutral and an in independent regulator?

@Jade1965 did you contact the SRA re a slcr's conduct ? How did it go ?

Yeah I did, only to be told after months of correspondence with them that they couldn't investigate the person as she was not actually a Solicitor, she is a Legal Executive.. complete waste of my time, they should have made it clear to me at the start of my complaint! I have now had to make a complaint to CILEx who deal with complaints regarding Legal Executive...

Just to add the SRA were not bothered in the slightest that my aunt who had the later stages of Alzheimer's and this Legal Executive had requested a capacity test but totally ignored the results....My aunt did not pass this and the consultant confirming she did not have capacity for any financial transactions...but the SRA did not find this suspicious!

@Jade1965 I am not at all surprised to read this .

reviews about the SRA here
uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sra.org.uk

This review is interesting
www.ucl.ac.uk/ethics-law/publications/2018/sep/independent-review-legal-services-regulation

The consultation period closes on 29 November 2019. Submissions in response to the interim report and consultation, and requests for meetings with Professor Mayson to discuss the issues raised, can be sent directly by e-mail to s.mayson at ucl.ac.uk.

And this comment from one of the reviews is also interesting

A Freedom of Information Request revealed that for the business year ending April 2012 the SRA rejected or refused to investigate 94% of reports they received about solicitor misconduct

I am glad ( tho sorry you have to ) you are continuing with your complaint .Good luck and good on you for bothering .

Thank you for this.. it was an interesting read, I had to deal with the SRA for nearly a year before being advised at the end they couldn't investigate her and I totally agreed with the comments on Trustpilot, you definitely lose the will to live dealing with them!
Unfortunately, I think the SRA were not too bothered with my complaint as she left the solicitors shortly after I contacted her when I found out what she had done for her Private Clients and I was taking a private Negligence claim against the Solicitors themselves.

My solicitor won this and thankfully got my aunts property and some of her finances back, but that wasn't my reason for making a complaint against her.... I do not want this to happen to any other vulnerable person she comes into contact with, it is so unfair that there are people like her willing to take advantage of someone with Dementia.

Ah ,thanks Jade .I was a bit amazed to read the reviews ,at least I know it's not just me .

My natural deference makes me keep thinking of reasons why the SRA come across the way they do .Could it be that they omit ( for some reason ) to explain their decisions and comments ?
It's not in their interests to correspond with you for a year and then refer you to a different authority .Could they have been investigating whether the firm that employed the legal executive were at fault for not supervising properly ?

I'm assuming LE work in firms of slcrs ?

Anyway I shall be making a formal complaint about the service offered by the SRA ,And I'm glad you were there for your relative and that you recovered some of her assets .

Incidentally ,I think there's a bigger problem with whoever deals with complaints about ppl taking out LPA and POA .

It does seem that the SRA can investigate non authorised people
This guidance is about how we regulate people, who, although not authorised by us directly as individuals, are involved in a firm that we regulate. They may be non-lawyers such as an accountant, a finance administrator or an office junior. They might also be lawyers regulated by another legal regulator, such as a barrister or legal executive.

It does seem that the SRA can issue sanctions against LE
Section 43 order
A sanction we issue to non-lawyers working in the profession, eg non-lawyer managers and employees such as legal secretaries. We restrict them from working in a law firm without our permission.

but perhaps this doesn't always apply ,eg if the LE is self employed ???

And in the interests of fairness perhaps things have changed since that FOI re 2012 as this current report

www.sra.org.uk/sra/how-we-work/reports/upholding-professional-standards-2017-2018/

shows that of 11,508 concerns raised ,4711 were investigated .( 41% ? )

Of those 4711 , 420 resulted in action .(9% ? )

So of 11508 concerns 96% saw no action being taken.

But I'm not v good with figures ,so do check out the link if it matters to you .

I really have no idea, they just kept missing the point and kept fixating on something that was irrelevant, it kept going backwards and forwards from Stage 1 to Stage 2 then back again to Stage1, this went on for months until eventually it went to the last Stage but that reply came back they were closing the case and couldn't do anymore as I had a Negligence Claim against the solicitors and it was too complex for them to deal with! My Solicitor advised that it was pointless to carry on corresponding with the SRA as all they kept saying at the end was she was a Legal Executive.
So after 11 months I made a complaint to CILEx who deal with Legal Executives and am waiting to hear their outcome and yes she is apparently in another solicitors now.
I agree my aunts partner took her from Brecon to Bristol to get LPA for him and his family but where the problem there is that the capacity assessment is reliant on the Solicitor or the Legal Executive to ascertain the client has capacity to agree to an LPA or POA and as someone with serious dementia should not be entering into any legal commitment by rights a capacity assessment should be gained. However, with my aunt they didn't bother and just went ahead... This in turn was used by him and his family to completely fleece her!

I have just read your previous posts which I hadn't seen before I wrote my reply, sorry.. my case only ended in July 2019 so if anything has changed it has happened in the last 4 months! They wouldn't contact her as she no longer worked for the solicitors and was a LE.. advising me contact CILEx