Starting a law firm? Answer a few questions and get a personalised authorisation checklist, a realistic timeline, and a compliance document pack pre-filled with your firm details. No account needed, takes two minutes.
Covers SRA authorisation, which regulates firms in England and Wales only. Last reviewed October 2026 against the SRA's published requirements and fee schedules; fees change, so check current figures before relying on them.
What are you applying for?
The SRA authorises firms in different ways. Pick the closest fit, or "not sure yet".
Where are you in the process?
This sets your timeline and how much of the checklist is still ahead of you.
Your firm's details (optional)
Give us the basics and we'll pre-fill your policy documents with them instead of leaving blank placeholders. Nothing here is required; skip anything you haven't decided yet.
Will the firm hold client money?
What work will the firm do?
This ticks the right anti-money laundering scope items in your policy.
What's already sorted?
Tick everything you've already done. Anything you leave unticked goes on your checklist.
Where should we send it?
Your checklist appears straight away. We'll also use this if we update the tool or the templates.
Everything below is free, with no account required.
The full set of things the SRA expects to see for your application type, split into phases, with what you've already done ticked off.
Preparation time and expected SRA turnaround for your route, so you can plan your launch date around it.
Four Word documents every applicant needs, generated in your browser with your firm name, address and compliance lead already filled in: AML/CTF policy, complaints procedure, compliance plan and risk register, and a client care letter skeleton.
What to do the moment you're authorised: banking, software, and getting your first client matters moving.
Authorisation isn't a mystery. The SRA is checking that a new firm has the right people (fit and proper managers and owners, with COLP and COFA nominated), the right plan (a viable business with funding to survive its first year), the right protections (indemnity insurance meeting their minimum terms and a complaints procedure), and proportionate systems for compliance, including anti-money laundering arrangements where your work falls in scope of the Money Laundering Regulations.
Applications get delayed by the boring things, not the hard things: missing information about owners, an insurer lined up too late, or policies that obviously came out of a drawer. Answer everything the SRA asks for, in full, first time, and the process is largely a waiting game.
The core requirements are a suitable structure and name, fit and proper managers and owners, nominated COLP and COFA (for authorised bodies), professional indemnity insurance meeting the SRA's minimum requirements, a business plan with financial information, a complaints procedure, and proportionate compliance arrangements including anti-money laundering policies where your work is in scope of the Money Laundering Regulations.
As a planning assumption, allow 8 to 12 weeks from submitting a complete application, plus preparation time before that. Licensed body (ABS) applications generally take longer because they involve the Legal Services Board. The SRA will often ask follow-up questions, which extends the clock, so submit complete information first time.
You need to confirm your indemnity insurance arrangements as part of the application, and the policy must meet the SRA's minimum terms. Get quotes early: your practice areas affect both price and which insurers will quote, and the policy must be in place before you start practising.
A recognised sole practitioner carries the COLP and COFA responsibilities personally, so there is no separate nomination, but you still need the underlying systems: compliance monitoring, client money controls if you hold client money, complaints handling, and record keeping.
No. The OrdoLux Authorisation Readiness Tool is an independent free resource created by OrdoLux. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and it does not submit anything on your behalf. Applications are made through mySRA by the firm.
