Key Takeaways:
- The SRA ultimately decided to intervene in Axiom Ince in order to protect clients, in the face of a £64m client account deficit
- The scale of the damage to the profession, including the impact on the SRA’s Compensation Fund, is still being assessed
- The existing rules may need to be strengthened to give the SRA more oversight over law firm acquisitions
- There can be risks for firms that centralise compliance roles and obligations so they are held by one person. Firms with this arrangement may want to consider revisiting it to share out those responsibilities across the firm.
On 3 October 2023, the SRA announced that it had intervened into Axiom Ince, having previously intervened into the practices of three former directors of the firm. The SRA’s costs of the intervention are likely to be substantial, and, given the reported client account deficit, there is the potential for significant claims on the SRA’s Compensation Fund.
In this Ten-Minute Talk, Managing Partner Clare Murray and Regulatory and Professional Discipline Partner Andrew Pavlovic discuss the background to, impact and initial lessons to be learnt from the Axiom Ince intervention and collapse.
If you have any questions arising from this video, please contact Andrew Pavlovic, who specialises in regulatory and professional discipline law, or our Managing Partner Clare Murray, who specialises in partnership and employment law.
