Solicitors Regulation Authority creates four new director roles to improve decision-making timelines and caseload management
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to expand its executive leadership team as part of efforts to improve performance and rebuild public trust.
The regulator said it will create four new executive director roles covering supervision, risk and data, general counsel, and external affairs and communications. It said the expanded top team will bring greater experience, expertise and capacity into the SRA, as it looks to tackle broader sectoral challenges and rebuild confidence in its regulatory approach.
The expansion forms part of the SRA’s wider 2026 priorities, which centre on “operational excellence” and aim to address longstanding concerns about performance, including delays in decision-making and case handling.
The changes will effectively double the size of the executive leadership team, reflecting the scale of reform being undertaken as the regulator seeks to respond to criticism and improve confidence among both the public and the profession.
The SRA said the new structure follows a review of its leadership model and an extensive stakeholder listening exercise, which identified the need for stronger oversight, clearer accountability and improved responsiveness.
A key focus of the expansion is improving operational delivery. The organisation said it aims to speed up decision-making timelines and manage caseloads more effectively, alongside moving towards a more proactive, risk-based approach to supervision.
This includes developing tools to identify risks earlier and support compliance before issues escalate, as well as improving collaboration across the organisation and with external stakeholders.
Chief executive of SRA, Sarah Rapson, said: ‘I have been clear that the organisation must change if we are to become the regulator that the public and the sector deserves. We have a lot of work ahead of us to become a modern, proportionate regulator that is both trusted and effective.
‘Establishing a simplified leadership structure and culture of empowerment will be crucial to achieving the scale of transformation needed. The changes we are making will provide greater capacity, renewed focus and more clarity, which in turn will improve the speed and quality of decision making across the organisation.’
Alongside the new roles, the SRA has confirmed the permanent appointment of Jonathan Peddie, former Baker McKenzie partner, as executive director for investigations, enforcement and litigation.
Peddie, who joined the SRA on an interim basis last year, takes over a key area of the regulator’s work that has faced criticism in recent years, including concerns about delays in investigations and questions over proportionality in enforcement decisions. He has already been at the forefront of the SRA’s response to the collapse of PM Law, which is now being treated as a potential fraud.
In the role, Peddie will lead an end-to-end review of the SRA’s casework process, including the application of the assessment threshold test and improvements to the quality assurance of triage and investigations. He will also work with the wider executive team to develop alternative regulatory tools to investigations, reflecting a shift towards a more proportionate and risk-based approach.
Peddie said: ‘When I joined the SRA on an interim basis, my priority was to make sure that the public could continue to have full confidence in the profession. The past six months have reinforced for me the critical importance of a strong, agile and proportionate investigations and enforcement function as a foundation of trust and confidence for the public and solicitors.’
He added: ‘I am grateful for the opportunity to bring my experience of legal practice and regulation to bear. I look forward to playing a role in delivering the changes Sarah Rapson has outlined, to address the challenges the organisation faces.’
Sarah Rapson welcomed Jonathan Peddie’s permanent appointment, saying ‘he brings a deep knowledge of the legal sector, having previously been a partner at Baker McKenzie, global head of litigation, investigations, enforcement and financial crime at Barclays Bank, and Deputy General Counsel at Clifford Chance. His expertise will be invaluable as we establish a more proportionate regulatory approach.’