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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts
Key definition
Separate business definition

What does Separate business mean? In practice, a separate business is an unregulated associated business owned, controlled or closely connected with a solicitor or law firm, used to deliver services outside legal-services regulation. In England and Wales, the term is defined in the SRA Glossary (under the SRA Standards and Regulations) rather than legislation, and captures any connected undertaking not authorised by the SRA or another Legal Services Act 2007 approved regulator. Key features and risks include: it cannot provide reserved legal activities to the public unless the entity is authorised; clients must not be misled about regulatory protections; branding, referrals and publicity must make...

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Separate businesses and unbundled legal services under the SRA: reserved/non-reserved scope, referrals, informed consent, transparency, protections, conflicts, confidentiality, client money and PII (England and Wales)

Practice notes
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The SRA Standards and Regulations allow law firms and legal service providers to organise their businesses in several formats, depending on whether they deliver reserved legal activities. options comprise:

  • a single SRA-regulated entity delivering both reserved and non‑reserved services
  • an SRA‑regulated entity delivering reserved legal services, with some or all non‑reserved work carried out by a separate, non‑SRA regulated business (which, importantly, may employ SRA‑regulated solicitors)
  • a non‑SRA regulated entity supplying only non‑reserved legal services, employing SRA‑regulated solicitors
  • a freelance solicitor—see Practice Note: Dealing with freelance solicitors

This Practice Note offers guidance to law firms on running a separate business, including allocating parts of a client matter between the law firm and the separate business, which will entail unbundling legal services. It reflects the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007) and the SRA Standards and Regulations, together with separate business guidance issued by the SRA. Unless stated otherwise, references in the Practice Note to:

  • ‘solicitor’ includes Registered European Lawyer (REL), Registered Swiss Lawyer (RSL) and Registered Foreign Lawyer (RFL)
  • ‘law firm’ includes alternative business structures and recognised sole practices

The concept of reserved legal services

Grasping the ambit of reserved legal services is vital to planning which services may and...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...

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I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...

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