SRA Handbook

Application and Interpretation

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Version 2 of the Handbook was published on 23/12/2011. For more information, please click 'History' Above

Rule 48: Application and Interpretation

48.1

Part 7 of these rules applies to your practice from an office outside England and Wales to the extent specified in each rule in this Part. If compliance with any applicable provision of Part 7 of these rules would result in your breaching local law, you may disregard that provision to the extent necessary to comply with that local law.

48.2

In Part 7 of these rules:

AJA

means the Administration of Justice Act 1985;

approved regulator

means any body listed as an approved regulator in paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the LSA, or designated as an approved regulator by an order under paragraph 17 of that Schedule;

authorised body

means a body that has been authorised by the SRA to practise as a licensed body or a recognised body;

authorised non-SRA firm

means a firm which is authorised to carry on legal activities by an approved regulator other than the SRA;

body corporate

means a company, an LLP, or a partnership which is a legal person in its own right;

BSB

means the Bar Standards Board;

client account (overseas practice)

means an account at a bank or similar institution, subject to supervision by a public authority, which is used only for the purpose of holding client money (overseas practice) and/or trust money, and the title or designation of which indicates that the funds in the account belong to the client or clients of a solicitor or REL or are held subject to a trust;

client money (overseas practice)

means money received or held for or on behalf of a client or trust (but excluding money which is held or received by a multi-disciplinary practice - a licensed body providing a range of different services - in relation to those activities for which it is not regulated by the SRA);

Establishment Directive

means the Establishment of Lawyers Directive 98/5/EC;

Establishment Directive profession

means any profession listed in Article 1.2(a) of the Establishment Directive, including a solicitor, barrister or advocate of the UK;

firm (overseas practice)

means any business through which a solicitor or REL carries on practice other than in-house practice;

lawyer-controlled body

means an authorised body in which lawyers of England and Wales constitute the national group of lawyers with the largest (or equal largest) share of control of the body either as individual managers (overseas practice) or by their share in the control of bodies which are managers (overseas practice);

lawyer of England and Wales

means a solicitor, or an individual who is authorised to carry on legal activities in England and Wales by an approved regulator other than the SRA, but excludes a member of an Establishment Directive profession registered with the BSB under the Establishment Directive;

legal activity

has the meaning given in section 12 of the LSA and includes any reserved legal activity and any other activity which consists of the provision of legal advice or assistance, or representation in connection with the application of the law or resolution of legal disputes;

licensed body

means a body licensed by the SRA under Part 5 of the LSA;

licensing authority

means an approved regulator which is designated as a licensing authority under Part 1 of Schedule 10 to the LSA, and whose licensing rules have been approved for the purposes of the LSA;

LLP

means a limited liability partnership incorporated under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000;

LSA

means the Legal Services Act 2007;

manager (overseas practice)

means:

(i)

a member of an LLP;

(ii)

a director of a company;

(iii)

a partner in a partnership; or

(iv)

in relation to any other body, a member of its governing body;

non-lawyer

means:

(i)

an individual who is not a lawyer practising as such; or

(i)

a body corporate or partnership which is not:

(A)

an authorised body;

(B)

an authorised non-SRA firm; or

(C)

a business, carrying on the practice of lawyers from an office or offices outside England and Wales, in which a controlling majority of the owners and managers are lawyers;

owner

in relation to a body, means a person with any ownership interest in the body;

partner

means a person who is or is held out as a partner in a partnership;

partnership

means an unincorporated body in which persons are or are held out as partners, and does not include a body incorporated as an LLP;

practice from an office

includes practice carried on:

(i)

from an office at which you are based; or

(ii)

from an office of a firm (overseas practice) in which you are the sole practitioner or a manager (overseas practice), or in which you have an ownership interest, even if you are not based there,

and "practising from an office" should be construed accordingly;

recognised body

means a body recognised by the SRA under section 9 of the AJA;

REL

means registered European lawyer, namely, an individual registered with the SRA under regulation 17 of the European Communities (Lawyer's Practice) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000 no. 1119);

REL-controlled body

means an authorised body in which RELs, or RELs together with lawyers of England and Wales and/or European lawyers registered with the BSB, constitute the national group of lawyers with the largest (or equal largest) share of control of the body, either as individual managers (overseas practice) or by their share in the control of bodies which are managers (overseas practice), and for this purpose RELs and European lawyers registered with the BSB belong to the national group of England and Wales;

reserved legal activity

has the meaning given in section 12 of the LSA, and includes the exercise of a right of audience, the conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities, probate activities, notarial activities and the administration of oaths, as defined in Schedule 2 to the LSA;

SA

means the Solicitors Act 1974;

Society

means the Law Society, in accordance with section 87 of the SA;

sole practitioner

means a solicitor or REL practising as a sole principal, and does not include a solicitor or REL practising in-house;

solicitor

means a person who has been admitted as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and whose name is on the roll kept by the Society under section 6 of the SA;

SRA

means the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and reference to the SRA as an approved regulator or licensing authority means the SRA carrying out regulatory functions assigned to the Society as an approved regulator or licensing authority;

trustee

includes a personal representative (i.e. an executor or an administrator), and "trust" includes the duties of a personal representative;

UK

means United Kingdom.