FLK1 · SQE1 module

Legal Services

This subject is tested through ethical dilemmas rather than abstract rules: a short scenario, and a question about what a solicitor is permitted or required to do.

The SRA Principles and the requirement to act in the best interests of each client are the anchor points most questions are built around.

What this module covers

Every topic in Legal Services, in the order the course teaches them. This is the whole syllabus for the module, not a selection.

The Seven SRA Principles
Structure of the SRA Standards and Regulations
Acting in the Client's Best Interests and Competence
Own-Interest Conflicts (Code para 6.1)
Client Conflicts and the Two Exceptions (Code para 6.2)
Confidentiality (Code para 6.3)
The Duty of Disclosure and Its Limits (Code para 6.4)
Duty to the Court and Not Misleading
Undertakings (Code para 1.3)
Not Taking Unfair Advantage; Fair Treatment
Client Money and Assets: The Individual Code Duties
Client Care and Costs Information (Code paras 8.6-8.7)
Complaints Handling and the Legal Ombudsman
Referrals, Fee Sharing, Financial Benefits and Publicity
Co-operation, Reporting and Accountability
SRA Code of Conduct for Firms; COLP and COFA
Regulatory Framework: Legal Services Act 2007
Financial Services: FSMA 2000 and Exempt Professional Firm Regime
Anti-Money Laundering: POCA 2002 and the MLR 2017
Equality and Non-Discrimination (Equality Act 2010)
Funding of Legal Services
Separate Businesses
The Retainer, VAT-Inclusive Costs Default and Freedom to Decline Instructions
SQE1 Application Notes for Ethics (Pervasive Testing)

A real question from this module

Answer it before you decide

FLK1 · Legal Services

Question

A solicitor is asked to act for a client purchasing a business. The solicitor’s spouse is the seller and stands to receive the sale proceeds personally. Both the buyer and seller are sophisticated commercial parties who are content for the same firm to act, and no confidential information is at risk. What must the solicitor do?

ADecline to act, since this is an own-interest conflict that cannot be managed by consent or barriers

BAct for the client, provided both parties give informed written consent to the arrangement in advance

CAct for the client, provided an information barrier is put in place between the solicitor and the file

DDecline to act only if the transaction later becomes contentious between the buyer and the seller

EAct for the client, provided a different fee earner within the same firm handles the seller’s side

Answer A

Where a solicitor’s own interest, or that of someone closely connected to them, conflicts with a client’s interest on the same matter, this is an own-interest conflict. Unlike a conflict between two clients, an own-interest conflict of this kind cannot be managed through consent, an information barrier, or a different fee earner acting. The solicitor, and generally the firm, must decline to act, regardless of how sophisticated the parties are or whether the matter later becomes contentious.

SRA Standards and Regulations 2019, SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, own-interest conflicts.

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