by Stephen Lawson, IDR Partner, Chair of The Law Society Wills & Equity Committee
I am very fortunate doing the job that I do – I get to see or meet many private client practitioners.
Their knowledge, skills, and expertise never disappoint. I never underestimate the difficulties private client practitioners face – both in the preparation of wills and in dealing with the administration of estates. There are so many unpredictable factors that can arise during any of these processes.
But perhaps it is only the best private client practitioners I meet – i.e., practitioners who give up fee-earning time to attend courses (in person or by Webinar) to invest in their knowledge, skills and expertise. Perhaps a hidden pool of practitioners doesn’t take the same care.
Readers will probably know that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (the SRA) is currently undertaking a “thematic review into probate and estate administration” (it always amazes me that the SRA have their own language and terminology – I never hear the phrase “thematic review” in day-to-day conversation). The SRA perhaps has cause for concern. It is well known that one-third of their entire complaints received arise from private client work.
The SRA have concerns about three main areas:
– Maintaining continuing competence (continuing training)
– Managing the risk around handling estate money and assets
– Meeting the obligations of clients and parties to the administration
The SRA randomly identified and wrote to 25 regulated firms – some large and some small. They decided to attend the offices of these firms, having first sent a letter saying that they would need to speak to the person with overall responsibility for probate and estate administration, talk with fee earners, review policies and procedures, and consider training records. A copy of the SRA letter can easily be found on Internet searches.
It seems from initial feedback that most firms gave a good account of themselves – but it also seems that most firms were told about areas of their work that the SRA considered needed to be improved. Three unfortunate firms found themselves subject to a formal SRA investigation.
If people have heard my lectures on Will Writing Mistakes, you will know that I consider that there is no monopoly of expertise – poor practice can be found in small and large firms. Poor practice can be seen from newly qualified lawyers or lawyers with many years of practice – for opposite reasons. A freshly qualified lawyer may not have years of knowledge or expertise to deal with new and novel issues that inevitably arise. Lawyers who have been qualified for many years sometimes fail to keep up to date with changes in law, practice or technology. The converse is also true. We also see the best legal practice from large or small firms or newly qualified or many years qualified lawyers. As contentious probate lawyers, we frequently see Will and Estate Administration files from other firms. We see the best and worst of legal practice – and as I have explained, there is no monopoly of expertise.
It does seem to me that sometimes Will preparers are reluctant to discuss private client mistakes – and this is why, for some years now, I have been inviting lawyers to share (on an entirely anonymous basis) errors that they know about or have heard about – I am a firm believer that if people know and understand the common mistakes that arise then practitioners young and old are less likely to make those mistakes.
So, the message for the future is to keep up with your training. Keep up to date. Make proper records of your training and your meetings with clients. Discuss private client mistakes in team meetings – keep minutes of team meetings so that best practice can be demonstrated – or come on one of my Will Writing Mistakes courses – and learn from the mistakes of others rather than at your own expense!
Let’s see what the SRA thematic review concludes…
