Regulatory Work
Representation for individuals facing professional regulators, disciplinary tribunals, and licensing bodies, including fitness-to-practise proceedings and registration appeals.
A letter from your regulator is not like other legal problems. Your registration is your career, the process is slow and public-facing, and the body investigating you is the same one you have paid fees to for years.
We act for healthcare professionals and other registrants facing fitness to practise proceedings — optometrists and dispensing opticians before the General Optical Council, registrants of the other healthcare regulators, and professionals in regulated sectors more broadly.
Most people’s instinct is to explain everything immediately and at length. That is usually the wrong instinct. What you write in your first response shapes the whole case, and it is very difficult to walk back.
The stages, and where cases are actually decided
Most referrals are resolved long before a hearing. A regulator will typically investigate, put the allegations to you in writing and invite a response, then decide whether there is a realistic prospect of a finding. A substantial proportion of cases close at that point — which is exactly why the written response matters more than most registrants expect.
Your first response
You will be given a deadline and a set of allegations to answer. Responding well means addressing what has actually been alleged, in the right register, with the right supporting material — and knowing what to leave out. Responding badly can widen a narrow allegation, or turn a dispute about facts into a question about your insight and honesty, which is considerably harder to defend.
Interim orders
Where a regulator considers there is a risk to the public, it can restrict or suspend your registration while the investigation continues, before any findings are made. These applications move quickly and are often the most urgent part of a case. If you have been notified of an interim order hearing, that is the moment to get help — not afterwards.
Insight and remediation
Regulators are concerned with your current fitness to practise, not only with what happened. Evidence that you have understood the concern, taken steps to address it, and can show it will not happen again frequently makes the difference between a warning and a suspension. This work is best begun early; remediation assembled the week before a hearing rarely persuades anyone.
Who pays
Many registrants have representation funded through their professional indemnity provider or membership organisation and do not realise it covers regulatory work as well as clinical claims. Check your policy before you pay for anything. Where you are funding privately, we will give you a clear estimate at the outset.
Running alongside other processes
Regulatory proceedings often run in parallel with an employer’s disciplinary process, and sometimes with a police investigation or a civil claim. What is said in one can be used in the others, so they need managing together rather than separately.
Questions people ask us
I've had a letter from my regulator. Do I need a solicitor this early?
Will I lose my registration?
My employer is investigating as well. Should I deal with that first?
Who you'll be working with
Lauren Darbyshire-Robert
Not sure which of these fits?
Tell us what’s happened in your own words and we’ll point you to the right person.