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Three-quarters of lawyers in the UK and Ireland report being more stressed than they were five years ago but two-thirds are reluctant to report their concerns to employers, a survey has found. Seven out of ten said their work environment was stressful.

The Legal Services Board is to keep the performance of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in issuing alternative business structure licences under scrutiny, it has emerged. We have discovered that in January it issued a statutory notice requiring the SRA to provide information.

The names of 1,617 law firms and barristers who have been the subject of a formal decision by the Legal Ombudsman are now in the public domain. But there are positive signs for the legal profession in how few have recorded even five formal decisions.

A majority of consumers would consider buying legal services from big brands, but publicity around alternative business structures and new ways to access the law over the past two years has not increased their appetite, research has indicated.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is holding firm against criticism over its position on unrated professional indemnity insurers after Latvian underwriter Balva – which covers 1,300 law firms – was prohibited from writing new UK business.

Barristers and chambers staff now have access to a nursery nears the Inns of Court in the first of what could be a national network of childcare facilities. The Bar Nursery has been launched five years after the idea was first mooted.

The total number of firms and individuals in trouble with the Solicitors Regulation Authority over nominations for compliance officers has risen by a third in the past month to nearly 800, it has emerged.

Property lawyer Jonathan Smithers has won the five-way election to become the next deputy vice-president of the Law Society. Mr Smithers’ election means that from July the Law Society office-holders will all be high street solicitors.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has confirmed it will again attempt to extend the scope of services it regulates later this year and fired the opening shot of a campaign to issue licenses to individuals who are not conveyancers.

A quarter of conveyancing firms have experienced a client attempting to commit property-related fraud or money laundering, new research has revealed. This frequency suggests that many firms “might be over-optimistic” about the likelihood of encountering similar attempts in the future