Head of Compliance Jarret Brown comments on proposed reforms to client account interest, in City AM

Commenting in City AM, Head of Compliance Jarret Brown examines the government’s proposal to divert interest earned on law firms’ client accounts to help fund the justice system.

Jarret’s comments were published in City AM, 22 January 2026.

“The SRA has long accepted that law firms are able to retain a marginal and fair difference on client account interest as part of the cost and risk of holding funds on trust, and it has never been treated as improper or surplus income.

“Imposing a flat levy regardless of scale or profitability looks less like reform and more like a blunt, backdoor tax divorced from firms’ actual income.”