Coping with Covid-19

Anna Bradley Chair of the SRA Board

Hello again, Cambridge & District. How times change. The last time I wrote for you was back in March and while at that time we were very aware of the threat of Covid-19, I don’t believe any of us really thought that there would be this much disruption to our private and professional lives. To anyone whose friends and family have had their health affected by the virus, or have been unwell themselves, my thoughts go out to you.

We are acutely aware of the searching online for the services they challenges many legal services need so it is all the more important that providers have faced as a result of you are adhering to our transparency Covid-19, and we have all seen the TV rules, which require you to put certain footage of wills being signed through price and service information on clients’ front windows. your website, if you have one. While

Once lockdown was announced, we to be constraints in place for some time worked with the Law Society to look at and people need to be able to find all the queries we were both getting legal services. Don’t miss out because from the profession and published your website doesn’t give people the a range of resources for solicitors on information they are looking for. our website. We also made some changes to education and training And on a word of caution – arrangements so that everyone knew criminals have not been furloughed, where they stood. unfortunately, and the National Crime

We heard at a recent Board meeting cybersecurity attacks increasing within that this dedicated section of our days of the lockdown being announced. website - which looks at issues including Some of us might be working at home Accounts Rules, for the first time adhering to moneyand without the laundering basics familiarity of the such as client due diligence, and looking after trainees - has already received I don’t believe any of us really thought that there would be office could be less than focused on basic cybercrime awareness. We’ve more than 120,000 this much disruption produced guidance visits. If you have not to our private and on this too on our visited the pages yet, you might want to professional lives website - please do take a look so you can have a look; they may make sure you and have the solution to a your firm are safe. problem you’ve been wrestling with. Despite the lifting of restrictions,

The flexibility that our new Standards of the constraints will end and the and Regulations offer has been key. We uncertainty is clearly worrying for all. It have also seen the value in technology will take some time for the longer-term in legal services. When lockdown came, implications of the pandemic on the those that were able to work from home sector and the profession to be fully did so, while some firms sought relief understood and we will of course work through the Government’s furlough with others to help where we can. scheme. And for us, virtually all of our work has been able to be carried out by We have reflected some of that in our staff homeworking. draft forward Business Plan – which

We have updated our telephony months – which was drafted against systems so that our Contact Centre and a backdrop of the pandemic. We are Ethics Guidance staff can now take calls currently consulting on our plan, so please again, while working from home. Board do have your say by going to our website meetings now take place virtually and and feeding back on what we propose the technology is helping us to meet we will do. We welcome your thoughts. more often. It’s a new way of working restrictions are relaxing, there are likely Agency has told us of an upturn in we still do not know when many outlines our key activities for the next 12 and like you, we are already thinking Hopefully when I next write for you, about what we have learned and can we will be in a better place and build into how we work in future. the world might have returned to something approaching normality.

Your potential clients are likely to be In the meantime, take care.