SRA Handbook

Eligibility criteria and fundamental requirements for licensed bodies

Back to version 21

Version 9 of the Handbook was published on 01/04/2014. For more information, please click 'History' Above

Rule 14: Eligibility criteria and fundamental requirements for licensed bodies

14.1

To be eligible to be a licensed body, a body must comply with the lawyer manager requirement set out in Rule 14.2 below and be a "licensable body", as defined under section 72 of the LSA, and as set out in Rule 14.3 to 14.6 below.

14.2

At all times at least one manager of a licensed body must be an individual who is:

(a)

a solicitor with a current practising certificate;

(b)

an REL;

(c)

a lawyer of England and Wales and who is authorised by an approved regulator other than the SRA; or

(d)

registered with the BSB under regulation 17 of the European Communities (Lawyer's Practice) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1119).

14.3

A body ("B") is a licensable body if a non-authorised person:

(a)

is a manager of B, or

(b)

is an interest holder of B.

14.4

A body ("B") is also a licensable body if:

(a)

another body ("A") is a manager of B, or is an interest holder of B, and

(b)

non-authorised persons are entitled to exercise, or control the exercise of, at least 10% of the voting rights in A.

14.5

A body may be a licensable body by virtue of both 14.3 and 14.4.

14.6

For the purposes of this rule, a non-authorised person has an indirect interest in a licensable body if the body is a licensable body by virtue of 14.4 and the non-authorised person is entitled to exercise, or control the exercise of, voting rights in A.