Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

England and Wales High Court: unqualified law firm staff cannot conduct litigation under supervision; SRA’s section 21(3) stance rejected; costs order quashed in Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys

Published on: 19 September 2025

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

High Court judge Clive Sheldon, in a written ruling dated 16 September 2025, concluded that the legislation bars unqualified law firm staff from having conduct of litigation. He said this conflicted with guidance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which had advised a firm that an unqualified employee could manage a case under a solicitor’s supervision.

He explained that mere employment by someone authorised to conduct litigation does not permit the employee to do so, even if supervised. The individual actually conducting the litigation must be authorised in their own right, or fall within an exempt category. In his view, that is the correct interpretation of the act.

According to the judgment, the issue arose from a dispute between Charles Russell Speechlys LLP and two clients, Julia Mazur and Jerome Stuart. When the clients failed to pay a £54,000 invoice, the firm instructed Goldsmith Bowers Solicitors to recover the debt. Goldsmith Bowers then issued a claim form signed by Peter Middleton, its head of commercial litigation, the judgment records. Mazur and Stuart objected to the fact that Middleton...

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