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Another male solicitor has been rebuked for inappropriate behaviour to a female colleague at his firm’s Christmas party, following two similar incidents last month. The Solicitors Regulation Authority recorded that “whilst intoxicated, he behaved in an inappropriate, physical manner towards a female employee”.

A pioneering online court formally launched in China last week to handle internet-related cases, such as online trade and copyright disputes. Located in and for the e-commerce hub of Hangzhou – home of Chinese technology giant Alibaba – the Hangzhou Court of the Internet is said to be the first of its kind in the world.

A solicitor who wrote on Facebook that it was a shame a plane carrying Jewish refugees had not blown up has been handed a 12-month suspension and £25,000 fine after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found his “despicable” comments to be anti-Semitic. However, the suspension of Majid Mahmood has itself been suspended for a year.

A retired, non-practising solicitor who helped “friends and acquaintances” with legal matters but misled third parties into believing that he was still in practice has given an undertaking to the Solicitors Regulation Authority that he will not repeat his misconduct. He was also rebuked and fined £500.

The entrepreneur who developed a web-based contract checking service almost five years ago is to launch another venture along the same lines, it has emerged. Ralph Ehlers launched Check-A-Contract in 2012 and sold the website two years later, and has now gone live with contractreviewexperts.co.uk.

A solicitor who loaned between £80,000 and £100,000 from the firm’s client account to a client claiming to be an undercover policeman has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The tribunal said it was “possible” that she had been deceived by the client.

The Ministry of Justice is moving ahead with the introduction of price competition and larger contracts for court-based duty solicitor advice for housing cases, despite overwhelming opposition from respondents to its consultation. Just five out of 51 respondents agreed with it on price competition.

A Senior Crown Prosecutor who put in £5,800 worth of false travel expenses to help pay off his son’s university debt has been jailed for six months. He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud after submitting 62 bogus claims for journeys from his home address in Devon to Bristol Crown Court over six months.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has fired a warning shot across the bows of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, saying it needs to put more consumer protections in place before pressing ahead with its controversial plan to allow solicitors to practise from unregulated firms next year.

Legal comparison website The Law Superstore is to focus on generating lower-cost leads rather than more expensive solid instructions, after it was bought by a similar site for property services. According to the outgoing managing director, it was the decision of the site’s private equity backers to sell the business to reallymoving.com.