COLP & COFA Support
Are you a COLP or a COFA?
The Compliance Officer for Legal Practice is the eyes and ears of a law firm. COLP should be proactively involved in all major decisions within the practice. They have wide ranging responsibilities to ensure that everyone adheres to the rules, and they must be prepared to take controversial decisions which can have a major effect on the firm.
As such, being the COLP can be a very lonely place: this is where Enderley can help. Our consultancy expertise places COLP at the centre of everything: but with our support and the information and experience we provide, the lonely place becomes an informed centre of decision-making excellence, adding strength and resilience as appropriate.
Our COLP (and COFA) support packages
We have significant experience in advising COLPs, both on their strategy and on individual issues. We recognise that every firm is different so we tailor our support to suit individual COLPs and law firms.
Our COLP (and COFA) support packages can include:
- Hourly/weekly practical on-hand support to the COLP/COFA/Compliance/ Complaints Manager and others. This covers ad hoc day-to-day queries, or advice on complaint resolution
- Dealing with complaints and escalated matters with the Legal Ombudsman
- Monthly COLP/COFA monitoring, reviews and reports
- File audits
- Monitoring the firm’s registers (e.g. high risk undertakings, complaints) and breach reports
- Updating policies and procedures
- Preparing compliance reporting
- Attending internal audit or compliance meetings
- Completing/reviewing SRA updates and reports, including Practising Certificate renewals; SRA Diversity monitoring forms
- Analysing key risks within the business and offering advice and support on findings
- Reviewing processes and systems to ensure they are providing efficiency and cost savings.
COLP (and COFA)
Compliance Plans and Review Schedules
In our experience COLPs are more successful when proactive and future-focused. We have devised detailed COLP (and COFA) review schedules which will fit seamlessly into your existing compliance regimes. They are designed to make life simple, to harmonise competing approaches, to remove stress, and to provide COLPs with a compliance plan, a working framework and invaluable risk management information. With a sound framework, COLP will have greater control and everyone in the firm will know what to expect.
We have significant experience in advising COLPs, both on their strategy and on individual issues. We recognise that every firm is diffrent so we tailor our support to suit individual COLPs and law firms.
COLP & COFA audits
Using our bespoke solicitors’ compliance checklists coupled with years of experience, we conduct audits in any areas of compliance concern. This includes reviews of policies, processes, and time-consuming file reviews. We will provide you with an easy-to-follow audit report on the compliance of your firm scored against 20 key performance indicators, together with our recommendations for remediation. We can also help you prepare a remediation plan that will satisfy the SRA that you are taking any non-compliance seriously.
COLP & COFA breach reporting
Discovering a breach of the SRA Codes of Conduct can be extremely stressful. Often, you need to talk to someone confidentially when you discover an issue. We can help you with deciding whether and what to report and with the submission of a breach report. By remediation planning, we can ensure that you have properly remediated the breach, mitigating the likelihood or impact of any SRA enforcement action.
Data protection
Whether you want:
- A new data protection policy and documentation
- Your processes audited
- To know how to report a breach
- Support devising a new policy, such as “Bring Your Own Device to Work” (“BYOD”), or
- Help drafting a Data Privacy Impact Assessment when you are considering buying a new case management system
We can help the Data Protection Officer take the steps to protect your practice against unnecessary action.
SRA monitoring visits
If the SRA has chosen you for an inspection, we can help you prepare for the visit so that you can answer any queries and produce the documentation that they request.
With many years of practical experience, together with extensive SRA compliance knowledge, we are there to help. We are non-judgemental and supportive.
COLP/COFA audits
Using our bespoke solicitors’ compliance checklists coupled with years of experience, we carry out the audits in any areas of compliance concern. This includes reviews of policies, processes, and time-consuming file reviews. We will provide you with an easy-to-follow audit report on the compliance of your firm against 20 key performance indicators, with our recommendations for remediation. We can also help you prepare a remediation plan that will satisfy the SRA that you are taking any non-compliance seriously.
COLP/COFA breach reporting
Discovering a breach of the SRA Codes of Conduct can be extremely stressful. Often, you need to talk to someone confidentially when you discover an issue. We can help you with deciding whether and what to report and with the submission of a breach report. By remediation planning, we can ensure that you properly remediated the breach, mitigating the likelihood or impact of any SRA enforcement action.
Data Protection
Whether you want:
a new data protection policy and documentation;
your processes audited;
to know how to report a breach;
support devising a new policy such as Bring Your Own Device to Work; or
help drafting a Data Privacy Impact Assessment when you are considering buying a new case management system
We can help the Data Protection Officer take the steps to protect your practice against unnecessary action.
SRA Monitoring Visits
If the SRA has chosen you for an inspection, we can help you prepare for the visit so that you can answer any queries and produce the documents requested.
With many years of practical experience, together with extensive SRA compliance knowledge, we are there to help. We are non-judgemental and supportive.
What our clients say
Enderley Consulting have been so supportive. They are a pleasure to deal with and we would not be able to do without them.
[Enderley] designed a compliance system which was simple for all the staff to follow and … easy to follow compliance plans for both COLP and COFA … We would highly recommend them for all legal practices that want to be 100 per cent compliant.