"Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; he who would search for pearls must dive below." So wrote John Dryden in 1678. And so, too, every solicitor makes minor mistakes in his day-to-day work – inconsequential errors and misjudgements. But so what, you may ask, if beneath the surface the client is getting the pearls of a first-rate job? And let us not forget that the standard is generally very high. Clients are, by and large, well served.

However, there is a sense that our new regulator and critic, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), is now a guardian of the quality of solicitors' work and not just of the manner in which it is done. Rule 1.05 of the code of conduct states: "You must provide a good standard of service to your clients."

This is much more direct than the equivalent wording in the old Solicitors' Practice Rules 1990 which spoke of "not [doing] anything… which compromises or impairs… the solicitor's proper standard of work". And the guidance to the code goes further: "You must provide a good standard of client care and of work, including the exercise of competence, skill and diligence. Disciplinary action will not always follow where breaches of this duty are minor and isolated."