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The government’s decision to drop the idea of price competitive tendering for criminal defence work is definitive proof that there is no link with the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, which is going ahead as planned, the Bar Standards Board said yesterday.

Primary legislation will be required to bring complaints against claims management companies within the remit of the Legal Ombudsman, the government has admitted for the first time.

Lewis Hymanson Small – the law firm bought by AIM-listed Abbey Protection earlier this year – made a small dent in the company’s profits during a “tough” initial period, Abbey’s half-year results have shown. They also lay out how much it paid for the Manchester practice.

Samantha Barrass, who has led the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s work on licensing alternative business structures, is leaving to become chief executive of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.

The Law Society’s conveyancing quality scheme and lender-specific requirements amount to double regulation of lawyers and there needs to be a sector-wide effort to resolve the problem, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has urged.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has closed down an east London law firm less than a month after the High Court questioned its fitness to practise. The SRA intervened into the practice of Benny Thomas and Syed Tanweer Akhtar at Consilium Chambers LLP.

The Law Society should regain control over training, authorisation to practise and standard setting – reabsorbing a significant proportion of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the process – solicitors’ professional body has argued.

The Legal Services Board has urged the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority to “actively look for savings opportunities” after the society’s budget increased by £11.5m for the next year. It also criticised a lack of consultation with fee payers over what they will have to pay.

Around 30 detectives and police staff are now working full-time investigating the “suspicious” death of a Durham solicitor who was due to appear before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Peter Thomas Maine, aged 56, was found with stab wounds.

Winn Solicitors – which has grown in a decade from nothing to a highly profitable £40m volume claimant personal injury firm – is set for further expansion after being bought by two international investment companies.