No. Quarters Legal Ltd is a legal services provider and is not a law firm authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulations Authority (“SRA”). We do not need to be.

We do not act in specific ‘reserved’ legal areas which would require us to register and pay hefty fees to the SRA (see “Services we cannot undertake for you” section below for further information). By not registering, we can pass these cost savings on to our clients whilst still providing much the same services.

Yes. To make things confusing, our team of lawyers are still admitted and registered as solicitors in England and Wales, hold current practising certificates and are individually regulated by the SRA.  Details of each regulated solicitor can be found on www.SRA.org.uk.

The term "Director", "Partner" and "General Counsel Consultant" refer to a director of Quarters Legal Limited, or an employee or consultant of equivalent experience and qualifications or to an individual with equivalent status in one of Quarters Legal Ltd’s affiliates authorised to trade under the name Quarters Legal.

Whilst Quarters Legal Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the SRA, you can still expect to receive the same high standard of service at a more competitive rate.

There are also some other distinctions to highlight what this means for you.

We are not able to provide any services to you which are considered ‘reserved legal activities’ (essentially the exercise of a right of audience, conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities, probate, notarial or the administration of oaths), immigration work, claim management services or financial services that require FCA authorisation. We cannot hold client monies on your behalf.

We are not required to have professional indemnity insurance that meets the SRA’s minimum terms and conditions (typically a minimum of £2-£3million per claim). However, we of course do have in place professional indemnity insurance to give you peace of mind which is stated in our standard terms of business and/or our agreement with you. Should you require further levels of insurance cover, we are happy to have a discussion with you.  

You will not be eligible to make a claim on the SRA Compensation Fund. The SRA Compensation Fund is a discretionary fund operated by the SRA to which all solicitors contribute. Its purpose is to make grants to people whose money has been stolen, misappropriated, or otherwise not properly accounted for, or who have suffered loss for which a regulated person should have been insured but was not. If your business has an annual turnover of £2m or more, you would not be entitled to make a claim under the SRA Compensation Fund anyway.

We are committed to providing the highest quality services to all of our clients. Please tell us if something goes wrong by contacting the solicitor who is responsible for your work. We are happy to provide our written complaints policy upon request. If we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves, you will not have the right to refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman.

Correspondence between a solicitor and their client is normally subject to legal professional privilege. This means it should be protected from disclosure to a court or any opponent in pre-trial or court proceedings. This may be beneficial to a client in certain circumstances.  Please note that the SRA has questioned whether ‘legal professional privilege’ would apply outside of a regulated law firm. We believe there are strong grounds that ‘privilege’ would still apply to our new business model as our solicitors are still regulated, yet unhelpfully the current position remains unclear. Please note all of our work is confidential but there is a risk that our relationship with you is therefore on the same legal footing as any other general or professional business advisor.