Compliance & Regulation

There is little evidence of bullying, discrimination and harassment on Bar training courses, students have reported as part of research into equality and diversity at the vocational stage of training.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to issue guidance on when litigators are allowed to label letters as ‘private and confidential’ and/or ‘without prejudice’.

The “seismic shift” in time limits to complain to the Legal Ombudsman will require close monitoring to ensure that consumers do not lose out.

Californian legislators have blocked efforts by the State Bar to consider non-lawyer ownership of law firms, in the latest battle over alternative business structures in the US.

The SRA is planning huge increases in the fines it can impose for misconduct by wealthy solicitors – from the current £50,000 to £805,000 – while reducing them for lower earners.

A solicitor who called himself a notary when he was not and ‘apostilled’ documents despite not being allowed to has been rebuked after he said he was unaware of the restrictions.

A solicitor was manifestly incompetent in failing to progress probate matters for as long as a decade, but his misconduct did not amount to a lack of integrity, a tribunal has ruled.

The barrister who left his chambers following a storm last year over a tweet about a “stroppy teenager of colour” has had a £3m discrimination claim against the set thrown out for being time-barred.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has contradicted the claim made by notorious ex-solicitor Dr Alan Blacker to the Charity Tribunal earlier this year that it paid him damages for defamation.

LawtechUK is to look at how technology can support greater access to legal services for both consumers and SMEs in the next phase of its development, the organisation’s new director has said.