The Tribunal is constituted as a Statutory Tribunal under Section 46 of The Solicitors Act 1974.

The Tribunal adjudicates upon alleged breaches of the rules and regulations applicable to solicitors and their firms, including The Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007, the SRA Code of Conduct 2011, and the SRA Principles 2011.

Requesters may have a legal right to certain information, for example, The Solicitors (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules 2019 states: "Where hearings of the Tribunal are held in public, a copy of the recording must be disclosed to any person on request, subject to any direction by the Tribunal in relation to the release of the recording.".

In a November 2019 consultation on the supply of documents to third parties the Tribunal stated: "The principle of open justice is the starting point, and central to, the correct approach to dealing with requests by non-parties for access to papers filed within Tribunal proceedings. "