Managers is the generic expression used by the SRA to refer partners (in a partnership),
members in a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) or directors in a company. These managers can be:
- solicitors.
- non-solicitor managers (such as chartered legal executives, licensed conveyancers or patent attorneys) or
- non-lawyer managers such as accountants or others with business rather than legal expertise.
Law firm managers need to pay particular attention to the SRA's regulatory requirements, paying particular attention to the over-arching principles, the 2019 Code of Conduct for Firms and the SRA Accounts Rules 2019. They should also be aware of the obligations in the Code of Conduct for Solicitors, particularly in relation to supervision.
If they are also COLPs or COFAs, they should be aware of the 2019 SRA Authorisation Rules as well although, since 2019, the primary obligations are set out in the Code of Conduct for Firms.
There are of course many other types of manager (such as risk managers, compliance managers, HR managers and IT managers) who are not 'managers' in the technical sense above. However it doesn't really matter what type of manager you are, risk is an all-pervading and important issue.