Conduct Unbefitting: Solicitors, the SRA and Tax Avoidance

Abstract

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have issued a warning notice which suggests that solicitors who facilitate tax avoidance are necessarily breaching the SRA Code of Conduct. This article shows that to be false. While there are risks associated with facilitating tax avoidance, both with regard to breaching professional ethics and negligence, the concept of and the facilitation of tax avoidance in and of itself does not necessarily entail such breaches or negligence. By seeking to restrict the availability of legal advice the SRA have probably breached their own regulatory objective of supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law.

Keywords: tax avoidance, lawyers, professional conduct, rule of law

JEL Classification: K34, K40, K4, H26