How to get a new law firm authorised by the SRA

Who needs firm authorisation

A business that provides reserved legal activities, such as conducting litigation or preparing documents for HM Land Registry, must be authorised. The exception is a solicitor practising alone who meets the freelance conditions (see becoming a freelance solicitor). The SRA also says you must be authorised if you provide immigration, claims management or regulated financial services and aren’t regulated by another suitable regulator.

The SRA authorises three kinds of firm:

• Recognised sole practice: a solicitor who is the sole principal in a practice.
• Recognised body: a partnership, company or LLP in which all managers and interest holders are legally qualified.
• Licensed body (an ABS): a firm with non-lawyer managers or owners and at least one manager who is an authorised person, such as a solicitor.

A company must be registered at Companies House, in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Sole practices and recognised bodies need a practising address in the UK, and licensed bodies one in England or Wales. The firm can’t provide reserved legal services until it is authorised, so the SRA says to apply well before you plan to start trading.

What to have ready

• An indemnity insurance quote or certificate from a participating insurer, in date, naming the firm exactly as on the application and at Companies House. Minimum cover is £2 million per claim, or £3 million for a limited company or LLP. The SRA won’t accept an expired quote.
• Your structure, and incorporation details for a company or LLP.
• A COLP and a COFA. The COLP must be authorised to carry on reserved legal activities, and both must be managers or employees of the firm.
• Every manager and owner, with personal details, work history and regulatory history. Anyone not regulated by the SRA must register on mySRA first, and anyone regulated elsewhere needs a certificate of good standing.
• A supervising lawyer with at least three years’ practice, who supervises the firm’s work (rule 9.4 of the SRA Authorisation of Firms Rules).
• Money laundering approvals, if the firm’s work is in scope of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. Each beneficial owner, officer or manager needs SRA approval, with a basic DBS check no more than three months old and a five-year address history.

The applications and forms

The SRA’s pages direct you to mySRA for each part:

• the application for authorisation of the new firm
• a separate application for each individual who needs approval as a manager, owner or compliance officer
• an entity approval, if another organisation will be a manager or owner
• anti-money laundering authorisation, where it applies
• a notification, if you will carry on financial services activities

Older guidance and many advisers still refer to the paper forms: FA1 for the firm, FA2 for each individual, and FA3 for an organisation that will be a manager or owner.

Some people are deemed approved, though the firm must still notify the SRA. A solicitor with a current practising certificate is generally deemed fit and proper to be a manager or owner. A compliance officer is deemed approved if they are a lawyer and a manager of the firm, the firm’s turnover is no more than £600,000, and they aren’t a compliance officer anywhere else. In a recognised sole practice, the sole principal doesn’t need separate approval as a manager.

The business plan

The SRA bases its decision on what it calls the complete picture: the plans for the business, the services it will provide and the suitability of everyone involved. Its guidance says it weighs:

• the firm’s size, volume of work, turnover and the client money it will hold
• the work areas, for example a niche corporate practice or many individual and vulnerable clients
• connected businesses and referral arrangements
• confidentiality risks, such as shared premises or staff
• any link to another firm’s insolvency

The Law Society’s series on starting a firm says the application asks about the firm’s sources of work and funding, the types of work it will do and any linked businesses, and that, apart from smaller firms that aren’t ABSs, the SRA will expect business plans, forecasts, risk assessments and business continuity plans. The same series names business continuity as a common risk area for small firms, so say what happens if you are ill, or lose your premises or IT.

If none of the managers has management experience, the SRA may ask for core policies, such as the complaints procedure and the compliance officers’ reporting procedure, and for documents such as your client care letter. It is worth having them written before you apply. The guide to starting a law firm lists the policies most firms need.

Fees

• Sole practice or recognised body: £200 on submission, then a regulatory fee invoiced before authorisation, pro-rated to when in the practising year you are authorised (between £200 and £800 in the SRA’s current table).
• Client money: if you will hold it, a pro-rated contribution to the Compensation Fund.
• Licensed body: £2,000, plus £150 for each person who needs SRA approval, and an initial periodical fee based on estimated turnover.
• Offices outside England and Wales: £200 each.

For insurance and the other set-up costs, see how much it costs to start a law firm.

How long it takes

The SRA acknowledges an application within two working days. It aims to decide within 90 days where possible, but says a decision could take up to 180 days. Its guidance for sole practitioners says it typically takes about three months.

The formal limit is in the SRA Application, Notice, Review and Appeal Rules. An application only counts as made once the SRA has every payment, document and piece of information. The SRA must then give its decision within six months, and can extend that once, to no more than nine months in total.

Two things slow applications down. The first is gaps: until the application is complete, the clock doesn’t start. The second is slow answers: if you don’t reply to a query in time, the SRA may treat the application as withdrawn, and the fee may not be refunded. Plan for three to six months, and keep your insurance quote in date throughout.

What the SRA can decide

The SRA can authorise the firm unconditionally, authorise it with conditions, or refuse. It describes refusal as rare, and considers conditions first. In one example from its guidance, a firm was authorised on condition that it sent quarterly client account reports and reconciliations. Conditions are published on the SRA’s register, and you can ask for a review of a refusal or a condition.

Things the SRA lists as raising concern include:

• evidence that the firm or a key person has practised without authorisation before applying
• answers suggesting the managers don’t understand the SRA’s requirements
• information that should have been disclosed and wasn’t
• an open investigation into the firm or a role holder, or the regulatory history of its owners and managers

After authorisation

Start providing legal services within 12 months. The SRA treats a firm that hasn’t started within 12 months of authorisation as dormant, and has been contacting dormant firms with a view to revoking authorisation where appropriate. Authorisation can’t be sold or transferred, and the SRA warns that buying a dormant firm to avoid applying may end in revocation.

Watch for changes to the compliance officer rules. In June 2026 the SRA decided that an owner or manager who can direct significant decisions on their own should not hold the COLP or COFA role in firms with turnover over £600,000, or a client money balance over £2 million. A sole owner-manager caught only by the client money threshold could keep the COLP role but not the COFA role. The changes have gone to the Legal Services Board for approval, and the SRA plans to bring them in from early 2027 with a phased transition.

Not sure a firm is the right vehicle? Compare freelance, sole practice and consultancy.