Supervision Procedures (Dec25)

Introduction

Good supervision is beneficial in many ways to clients and staff and more generally to the success of the business. It is a critical part of our approach to risk management and assists us with quality control and performance monitoring.

We must all cooperate with our supervision procedures and understand the value that they have to the firm, rather than viewing them as a way to catch you out or to keep you under scrutiny.

Purpose

These procedures aim to ensure that we have adequate oversight of the work produced in the firm so that we can check:

1. the firm’s policies and procedures are being followed which helps to manage risks and achieve compliance with our ethical, regulatory and legislative obligations.
2. that appropriate advice is given/ process is followed which helps to mitigate against an increase in our professional indemnity insurance premium.
3. our colleagues’ standard of work, progression and wellbeing and foster an inclusive and supportive workplace environment.
4. that our staff know what is expected of them, where they can turn to for help and feel confident about reporting any issues.

Scope

The supervision procedures apply to all employees, including managers, consultants, and any third-party that these procedures have been communicated to.

Responsibility

Timothy Halliday (COLP) is responsible for this policy and overseeing our compliance with the SRA Standards and Regulations. One of the requirements of the Standards and Regulations is to have effective supervision procedures in place.

Day-to-day supervision is applied through our departmental structure that is outlined in our organisation chart.

All staff (and any third-party to whom these procedures apply) are required to be familiar with this policy and are responsible for ensuring compliance and cooperation with it and with our supervision procedures. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action and/or the SRA taking action against the firm, its managers or it employees linked to breaches for which they are responsible.

Supervisors

Timothy Halliday (COLP) is responsible for the overall supervision of legal work within our business.

Department supervisors

Department supervisors are responsible for ensuring that the work of that department is carried out in accordance with all regulatory requirements and the firm’s own policies and procedures. Department supervisors may delegate some responsibilities to other appropriately qualified members of staff.

In particular, the department supervisor is responsible for the following:

• Adherence to all the requirements of any firm accreditation, for example Lexcel, CQS or WIQS.
• Maintaining lists of work that is and is not undertaken by their department.
• Maintaining and keeping under review work area risk assessments and ensuring that new developments are raised in an appropriate manner with those in their department.
• File handlers must refer high risk file opening risk assessments to their supervisor.
• Management of major client relationships, in particular ensuring all work is conducted in accordance with Service Level Agreements agreed with clients.
• Ensuring that the department has the appropriate number of staff and that the staff are competent to conduct the work allocated to them.
• Allocating work to ensure that matters are handled with sufficient expertise and appropriate supervision.
• Reviewing the performance and workload of file handlers and reallocating work if necessary.
• Where necessary making any report needed to the COLP, COFA, MLRO, Complaints Partner or other appropriate member of the senior management team.

Department supervisors must provide an appropriate level of supervision, having regard to the work undertaken, the seniority and experience of those under their supervision and the case management controls in place.  Department supervisors are expected to be available to deal with issues requiring their attention and must make arrangements for a deputy to be available when this is not possible.

Matter Supervisors

Every matter must have a director designated as the supervisor. Please refer to the File and Case Management Procedures Manual for full details regarding matter supervisors’ responsibilities.

Systems of supervision

Supervision is achieved through:

• Ensuring that supervisors are given sufficient time to effectively carry out their people management activities.
• Requiring supervisors to take responsibility for the appropriate allocation of new work, taking into account file handlers’ experience and workload capacity and reallocation of existing work, if necessary;
• A procedure to ensure that incoming post is reviewed;
• Using a risk-based approach to establish the extent of a supervisor’s involvement in a file handler’s caseload, which is based on risk factors such as:
  • The risk of client detriment if work is not of suitable quality.
  • The inherent risks involved in the work such as the degree of judgement needed.
  • The experience and competence of the supervisee – a trainee or newly qualified lawyer will need a higher proportion of their work checked than someone with a long track record of doing similar work to a good standard.
• A procedure to ensure that incoming post is reviewed;
• Regularly monitoring a meaningful sample of caseloads to ensure that the overall quality of the substantive legal work is satisfactory, the firm’s internal policies are being followed, ethical and regulatory considerations are being dealt with appropriately, relevant risks are being managed on a day-to-day basis and the file is being managed appropriately more generally – see the File Review Policy for more information.
• Requiring all file handlers up to three years’ post qualification experience (PQE) to refer draft outgoing client communications of a specific nature, for example which include novel or complex or novel advice, information on costs or hourly rates and details of conversations involving substantive queries or concerns or court documents, to their supervisor for approval before they are sent out or filed.
• Requiring file handers to manage their files in such a way that the objective, strategy for achieving that objective, current position, progress to date and what remains to be done can be easily understood by a third party following a brief review of the file.
• Encouraging file handlers to disclose when work is beyond their personal capability, recognise when they have made mistakes or are experiencing difficulties, seek guidance and support and to know when to seek expert advice.
• Working with staff to identify skills gaps and opportunities for development and encouraging them to learn and develop within their role.
• Holding regular team meetings where technical problems can be discussed. Encourage a safe place environment where team members feel confident to speak up and a focus on curiosity as to issues that have arisen, rather than blame;
• Requiring supervisors to review a list of all the live matters monthly for employees under their supervision, with particular emphasis on the number of live files, ensuring there is good financial management of the files e.g. checking values of work in progress (high WIP can indicate an issue with time recording), values of client account balances, bills outstanding and residual balances, cases open which exceed the average case length, files without CDD, files without client care letters and any files with lengthy period of inactivity;
• Regular file reviews – see the File Review Policy for more information;
• Appraisals;
• An open-door culture to encourage team members to feel comfortable to seek guidance when needed.

Maintaining progress

All files should be subject to ongoing review at least once a month by file handlers. Reviews should consider whether the client’s instructions are being adequately met, whether the client is aware of the current costs position and general level of progress, whether action is needed to implement instructions, if contact is needed with the client to vary the case plan or instructions in any way and whether the matter’s risk profile has changed.

Supervisors must also check for inactivity on files by reviewing the monthly matter list.

File reviews

Regular and independent risk-based file reviews are carried out across our business.

Please refer to the File Review Policy for full details about our file review procedures.

NOTE – Supervisors are not beyond reproach

Whilst supervisors are expected to always uphold high ethical standards of behaviour, as a supervisee, you should retain your own independence and moral compass, rather than blindly following what your supervisor asks or tells you to do if you believe it is unethical. To do so could result in you being implicated in any wrongdoing which may have grave implications for your future career.

All staff are responsible for their own actions and are bound by the SRA Principles, which include the requirements to act with honesty, integrity and in a way which upholds public trust and confidence in the profession and by the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors.

If you have concerns about something your supervisor has asked you to do, you should speak with the COLP before taking the action in question and seek their guidance on next steps.

If the suspected unethical behaviour affects others, you should use the firm’s confidential internal whistleblowing channel, which can be accessed here. See the firm’s Whistleblowing Policy for more information.

You should also consider your obligations under paragraphs 7.7 and 7.8 of the SRA Code of Conduct which require you to promptly report to the SRA any facts or matters that you reasonably believe are capable of amounting to a serious breach of their regulatory arrangements.

Review of these procedures

These procedures will be reviewed at least annually by Timothy Halliday (COLP).

Dec 2025