Decisions to control how a regulated person or firm practises

If a solicitor, registered European lawyer (REL), registered foreign lawyer (RFL) or firm is regulated by us, they must hold a current practising certificate, registration or recognition from us in order to be able to provide legal services.

We can control the work of those we regulate by imposing "conditions" on their

practising certificate (PC)—in the case of solicitors
registration—in the case of RELs or RFLS; or
recognition—in the case of firms or sole practitioners.

A "control"-type regulatory decision on an individual or firm's regulatory record can be to either impose conditions or take the conditions away. The titles of the decisions below match those that you would find on regulatory records that we have published.

We can also control the way that non-lawyer employees are employed; the regulatory decision for this is called "control of non-qualified staff (section 43)".

Condition

A condition may also be called a "control" on a regulatory record.

Conditions are not findings of a breach of our Standards and Regulations, but are aimed at controlling the work that the person or a firm can do for a period of time We impose conditions when we think it is in the public interest to do so.

We can control the work of those we regulate by imposing conditions on their PC, registration or recognition.

Examples of the conditions we may impose are that a person

may act only in employment approved by us;
must lodge half-yearly accountant's reports with us;
must not carry out a certain type of work.

PC/registration free from conditions

If we have previously imposed conditions on a solicitor's practising certificate (PC) or the registration of an REL or RFL, we may publish the decision to grant a PC or registration free from conditions when they apply to have the PC or registration renewed, if we no longer have any existing concerns that require us to place restrictions on the way that they work.

Recognition free from conditions

If we have previously imposed conditions on a firm's recognition, we may publish the decision to grant recognition free from conditions when the firm applies to have the recognition renewed the following year, if we no longer have any existing concerns that require us to place restrictions on the way that they provide legal services.

Important notes

Not all regulatory decisions are published—read more about our approach to publication.

Only decisions made since early 2008 are published on this site. Most decisions remain on the site for three years.

For the most up-to-date and complete picture of an individual's regulatory record,
please contact us.