Ethics and technology will be added to the competence checklist that governs solicitors in England and Wales, according to a report published by the Law Society Gazette. The announcement signals a revision to the framework by which practitioners assess whether they meet the standards expected of them; the Gazette broke the news under the headline "Ethics and technology to go on competence checklist." The Law Society, the representative body for the solicitors' profession, is the organisation behind the change.

What the headline confirms is narrow but consequential. Two domains — ethics and technology — will sit on the checklist used to measure professional competence. What the headline does not confirm is almost everything a practitioner will want to know: the timetable, the wording of the new competences, the assessment mechanism, and whether failure in either domain carries disciplinary consequences. Those gaps matter.

What does the change actually cover?

The existing competence framework asks solicitors to evaluate themselves against a statement of solicitor competence, spanning attributes such as legal knowledge, client relationships and business skills. The reported addition inserts two further areas of scrutiny. First, ethics. Second, technology.

Each addition answers a different pressure. Ethics speaks to recurring regulatory findings against practitioners who breached duties of integrity — the Solicitors Regulation Authority has for years recorded dishonesty among the most common grounds for disciplinary action. Technology answers a different question: whether solicitors can operate, securely and competently, in a profession that now runs on digital files, remote hearings and client portals.

One sentence suffices for the takeaway: solicitors will shortly be expected to demonstrate competence in ethics and in technology, not merely in doctrine and drafting.

Why pair ethics with technology?

The pairing is not accidental. Technology raises ethical questions that the older checklist did not anticipate: data protection, cybersecurity, the risks of artificial intelligence tools, and the confidentiality hazards of cloud platforms. An ethical lapse in 2024 is as likely to originate in a misconfigured file-sharing system as in a misappropriated client account.

By placing the two domains on the same checklist, the Law Society appears to treat them as interlocking rather than separate. Caution is warranted. The headline does not state whether the new competences will be integrated into the existing statement or issued as a standalone annex, and the drafting choice will shape how firms train and audit against it.

What should practitioners do now?

For law firms, the practical consequence is preparatory. Competence checklists feed into appraisal systems, training plans and, increasingly, regulatory answers when things go wrong. If ethics and technology become formal competences, firms should expect to evidence both.

Likely steps include:

• mapping current training on professional ethics against the forthcoming competence wording;
• auditing technology capability — systems, security, and staff fluency — before any assessment date arrives;
• updating appraisal templates so the two domains carry documented weight.

None of this is mandated by the headline itself. But the direction is clear. Firms that wait for final wording will compress their preparation into a shorter window, and training budgets stretched across a year are cheaper than remediation compressed into a quarter.

What remains unsaid?

A skeptic's ledger, briefly. The report does not give an implementation date. It does not say who will assess the new competences or how. It does not clarify the position of solicitors already in practice, versus those entering through the qualification regime. And it does not state whether the SRA, the independent regulator, endorses the checklist or treats it as representative-body guidance with no direct disciplinary force.

That last question is the sharpest. The Law Society issues competence statements; the SRA enforces the Codes of Conduct. A checklist without regulatory teeth guides good practice. A checklist the regulator cites in tribunals becomes something firmer. Which of the two this revision will be, the announcement does not say.

Take the caveat with the promise: ethics and technology are coming to the competence checklist; the mechanics, the deadlines and the enforcement consequences are not yet on it.

A profession redefining "competent"

For a profession whose definition of competence once centred on legal knowledge and client care, the addition marks a quiet widening. Competence, on the revised checklist, will include knowing the rules of right conduct and knowing the tools of modern practice. Two words. Both now carry formal weight.

Practitioners should treat the Gazette report as the starting gun, not the finish line. When the Law Society publishes the full revised statement, the operative wording — exact, clause by clause — will determine what firms must document, train and evidence. Until then, the headline is a promise with details pending.