[9] As of 25 May 2016, solicitor sole practitioners are regulated under rule 10 of the SRA's handbook, which provides that subject to specific exceptions, regulated lawyers cannot set up their own law practice and provide legal services as a sole practitioner unless they have applied for and gained authorisation to do so from the SRA.
[10] Authorised sole practitioner law practices, known as "recognised sole practices" are recognised and authorised separately by the SRA from regulated Partnership and Company legal service structures.
[12] American Institute of Architects survey found that sole practitioners make up approximately 30% of their membership.
[15] Sole practitioner architects face many unique challenges in their professional environment, such as additional practice management, limited ability to work on larger projects, limited time to deliver projects, lower salary than large firm senior staff and limited opportunity for collaborative work.
[16] As result, many sole practitioner architects are members of variety of networking groups that enable professional networking, exchange of information, sharing of expertise and direct cooperation between members.