Linklaters and Bird & Bird are among the first major firms to nominate new compliance officers, as the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has given UK law firms until 31 July to appoint someone to take responsibility for the firm's legal practice and financial administration.

Firms have been given from 31 May to 31 July to fill out a nomination form on the SRA website, naming their preferred Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (COLPs) and Compliance Officers for Financial Administration (COFAs).

All UK law firms are required to appoint the two roles under the Legal Services Act, with regulator hoping to confirm a majority of appointments at the UK's 11,000 law firms by the end of October.

For the UK's largest law firms, the nominations are expected to be largely predictable with a majority of firms planning to nominate their existing general counsel or compliance director in the COLP role and the finance director of chief financial officer (CFO) as COFA.

Firms to confirm their existing general counsel and finance director to the new roles include Linklaters (Raymond Cohen as COLP and Peter Hickman as COFA), Bird & Bird (Roger Butterworth as COLP and Paul Colvin as COFA) and Nabarro (Anna Marshall as COLP and Charles Furness-Smith as COFA).

The deadline for nominating COLPs and COFAs was initially planned for March, but the launch of the online form took a back seat due to problems with renewing practising certificates.

In announcing the launch of the process, the SRA stressed that while COLPs and COFAs are the formal focus points for compliance they "will not be seen as sacrificial lambs".

SRA executive director Samantha Barrass (pictured) said: "[A]n efficient regulatory regime is one where the primary responsibility for managing compliance risk lies with the firms, with particular responsibilities for the most senior people in firms."

As part of the nomination process, a senior manager of the firm must sign binding declarations that the firm has suitable arrangements in place to ensure the nominees can discharge their regulatory duties and have sufficient seniority and responsibility within the firm.