Bevan Brittan has unrivalled experience in the field of Professional Regulation. We act for a variety of government agencies, public authorities and organisations engaged in regulatory work ranging from regulation and discipline of professionals to the licensing and regulation of health and social care services. We are committed to delivering the highest quality services and our dedicated Regulatory teams offer a national practice spanning all three of our offices 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Our work for regulators covers all aspects of legal advice associated with their activities. This includes investigations and enquiries, the conduct of regulatory proceedings - both in the High Court and in statutory tribunals - disciplinary proceedings and judicial reviews. The team also advises on policy issues in the light of its wide-ranging expertise in this area.
Health and Social Care Regulation
In health & social care, clients can rely upon our experience and in-depth knowledge of the health and social care sector to advise on matters ranging from those that are operational, requiring an immediate response (e.g. urgent applications to justices of the peace), to those that require long-term strategic advice. We are expert in advising clients on all aspects of the regulatory framework under the Care Standards Act 2000 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and we have a detailed understanding of the standards and enforcement processes.
Our wider experience of acting for public and independent health and social care providers, as well as health and social care regulators, enables us both to promote our clients across government and the wider regulatory arena and also to facilitate joined-up working between policy makers, agencies, service regulators, professional regulators and providers.
Our services within health and social care regulation cover:
- registration with the Care Quality Commission
- other regulatory regimes
- regulatory prosecutions
- regulatory audits/due diligence
- wider aspects of the law impacting upon health and social care regulation
Professional regulation
Our professional regulation team similarly has extensive experience in advising professional regulators on the wide range of issues required in the registration and monitoring of professional standards in their respective field.
Our work in the area includes:
- disciplinary proceedings (prosecuting & defending)
- regulatory litigation
- investigations & advice (regulators & regulated)
- initial registration/admission
- standards investigations
Led by London office head Iain Miller (editor of Cordery on Solicitors and co-editor of Butterworths Guide to the Legal Services Act 2007), the team regularly undertakes litigation on behalf of our clients involving challenges to regulatory decisions, either by way of judicial review or other statutory regulatory challenges, and cases relating to good character.
The team also acts on a multitude of other issues relating to admissions to a profession and undertaking and completing standards investigations and disciplinary proceedings where accusations of malpractice are made.