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The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to simplify its system for granting waivers to regulations in order to promote innovation. It is also formalising its ‘innovation space’, which it describes as a “safe space” which allows firms with novel ideas that may push the boundaries of the current rules to test them in a controlled way.

Lawyers are getting better at handling complaints, meaning that those reaching the Legal Ombudsman are becoming more complex and costly, the organisation said last week in part justification for an increase in its budget for the second year running.

A disbarred barrister whose bid to rejoin Gray’s Inn and starting practising again after 15 years was refused has lost an appeal to the High Court. An inns’ conduct committee said there was insufficient evidence to rebut the inference that he would reoffend, and a BSB review panel upheld this ruling, which the barrister then appealed.

A new law firm regulated by the Bar Standards Board aims to attract young barristers and solicitors interested in working together. Black Antelope Law is made up of two barristers, both of whom work on a direct access basis, and two solicitors. The lawyers work partly from home.

The Bar Standards Board is considering a rule change which would mean chambers would have to include sexual orientation and religion in the diversity data they publish on their websites. It said the move might help sets of chambers attract a more diverse workforce, but there could be “security implications” for those with high numbers of barristers who were of LGBT+ or from a particular religion.

The founder of easyJet has entered the legal world today with the launch of easyConveyance, a conveyancing comparison tool. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said it was “time for the home buying process to be brought into the 21st century”.

Claims management companies have been warned by their regulator not to use “misleading headlines” or “sensational language” in clickbait-style advertisements. Meanwhile, two directors of CMCs that made misleading sales calls and took unauthorised payments, have been disqualified by the High Court.

A business specialising in trade mark advice and registration must stop claiming to be the “UK’s no.1 trade mark service”, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled. It said Trade Mark Direct made the claim on the basis that it believed it had registered more applications than any other firm in the last three years.

The Serious Fraud Office has bought a document review system backed up by artificial intelligence to improve significantly its document analysis capability – and put out of work barristers who it previously used to identify material subject to legal professional privilege.

A London-based law firm has filed a claim for judicial review against the Law Society’s decision not to reaccredit a solicitor who had been on its mental health panel for nearly a decade. She said the decision meant she has had to stop working in an area about which she is “passionate”, and longstanding clients have had to find new representation.