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The Solicitors Regulation Authority and the solicitors it prosecutes have been warned that disciplinary tribunals are not there to rubber-stamp any agreed outcome they reach to avoid a full hearing. There have been examples in recent months of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal rejecting agreed outcomes to proceedings

The small claims limit for personal injury should rise by inflation to £1,500, rather than the higher levels proposed by the government, MPs on the justice select committee have recommended. In a major boost to claimant lawyers, the committee found little credibility in much of the government’s case for raising the limit.

Headbutting a litigant-in-person in the High Court may have been a “moment of madness” but the solicitor involved could not stay in the profession, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled. He argued that the headbutt, which left his victim with a broken nose, was “temporary insanity” which should result in a suspension.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority should do more to combat a “quite alarming” lack of understanding of equality laws, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons women and equalities select committee has said during a parliamentary debate on public legal education.

A key shot in the battle to harness technology to shrink the role of lawyers in drawing up agreements has been fired by a major global law firm, initially dealing with simple non-disclosure agreements but promising to venture deep into commercial contract territory.

Conveyancers are facing higher professional indemnity insurance costs – and their clients higher fees as a result – due to yesterday’s Court of Appeal ruling in Dreamvar, experts have predicted. One said the judgment “will provide greater protection to buyers, but will shake up the conveyancing industry with much greater risk of liability”.

Small and mid-sized law firms need to accept that lower levels of profitability are becoming the “new normal”, it was claimed yesterday. Their income is also falling, with firms of 11-25 partners recording the biggest drop last year – 11% – compared to only 1% for sole practitioners.

“Very real obstacles” faced by a family law client in bringing a negligence action against a Cheshire law firm did not mean that the claim should be struck out in its entirety, the High Court has ruled. The claimant argued that, but for the firm’s negligence, he would have had to pay a third of the lump sum ordered by a district judge on his divorce.

Solicitors acting for the buyer of a property purportedly ‘sold’ by an imposter were liable for the losses suffered by their client, the Court of Appeal has ruled by a majority in the long-awaited decision in Dreamvar However, the court also found that seller’s solicitors liable, meaning that the other solicitors could sue them for a contribution.

Two family law barristers have set up what is believed to be the first service allowing separating couples to obtain advice from a single legal expert at any point in the process. They are launching The Divorce Surgery as an alternative business structure regulated by the Bar Standards Board later this week.