Welcome to the Commercial Risk and Quality Standard - CRQS
What is CRQS?
The Commercial Risk and Quality Standard ("CRQS") has been devised as a highly practical tool to meet the current professional and managerial needs of major commercial legal practices. The CRQS standard has been developed under the guidance of Web4Law director, Matthew Moore.
Key Objectives
CRQS enables major commercial firms to meet a range of objectives, including:
- Ensuring consistency of operations throughout the practice, especially where the firm operates from different locations
- Profiling the firm positively in pitches for instructions, where formal quality standards are increasingly expected
- Demonstrating to insurers that appropriate risk management systems are in place
- Certifying compliance with Rule 5 of the new Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007, dealing with 'Business Management', and Rule 2 on 'Client Relations'
- Providing evidence of management and controls for external investors post-Clementi if this becomes possible under the Legal Services Act, and performing due diligence checks on mergers and take-overs in the meantime
Development of the Project
CRQS was initially devised as a stand-alone risk and quality management standard, based on industry best practice in a number of major commercial firms. Subsequently it has been modified to bring it into line with the internationally recognised ISO 9001 standard (‘BS EN ISO 9001'). CRQS accreditation can therefore additionally passport through to formal certification under ISO 9001 if required.
Further Information
To find out how to get involved in the CRQS project, just click on our Helping You page. We also have a FAQ page, which provides answers to commonly asked queries about the standard, and which also reproduces a sample section of CRQS, allowing visitors to this site to obtain a 'flavour' of the CRQS approach.