Foreign Lawyer Pathways
UK Law Firm Establishment Service
From SRA firm authorisation and business structuring to compliance officers and professional indemnity insurance — everything to establish your practice in England and Wales.
What you get
Structure and authorisation
Guidance on the form your practice should take and what the SRA will require to authorise it, before you commit to a structure that is awkward to change later.
Compliance roles
What a COLP and COFA are responsible for, who in your firm can hold those roles, and what the SRA expects of them once they do.
Insurance and policies
Help understanding the professional indemnity cover you are required to hold, and the written policies a new firm is expected to have in place from day one.
Application preparation
Your authorisation application assembled and reviewed, so it goes to the SRA complete rather than in instalments.
Who is this for?
Registered Foreign Lawyers establishing their own practice in England and Wales
Overseas firms opening a UK office
Solicitors leaving an existing firm to set up on their own
Not sure this is the right route?
Tell us where you qualified and what you are trying to do here. If a different service fits your situation better, we will say so.