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The Legal Services Board has reacted angrily to a draft report from the International Bar Association which said the oversight regulator was subject to “a degree of government control”, because “the LSB is funded by the Ministry of Justice, and all its members are appointed by the Lord Chancellor”.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has slapped down the Solicitors Regulation Authority for its conduct in a disciplinary case involving alleged money laundering, describing it as having “verged on the shambolic” and dismissing five out of the seven charges laid.

Profit is continuing to rise at Co-operative Legal Services (CLS), half-year results published today have revealed. In the first six months of 2016, sales rose 10% to £11m, and it made a £1m profit – having broken even during the same period of 2015.

Criminal defence work is still beset by the “corrupt practices” of a minority of solicitors, as well as law firms sending incompetent in-house advocates to court – instead of instructing counsel – because of the financial benefits, the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association has claimed.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed that it is investigating law firms involved in “dubious” high-yield investment schemes – and promised to close down those practice involved in them “urgently”. It said these schemes were costing consumers “many millions” of pounds,

The Law Society has raised its opposition to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) plan to allow practising solicitors to operate from unregulated law firms to an unprecedented level, issuing a report that said there would be little or no economic benefit from the move.

Saga, the over-50s insurance and travel company, has closed its legal services business, Legal Futures can reveal – but said it may yet return to the market in future. The company was hit by the collapse last year of Parabis, with which it had set up a joint venture alternative business structure, Saga Law, in late 2013.

A regulatory agenda that is looking to help consumers shop around for legal advice means that many law firms are running out of time to get to grips with customer service, a report being launched at today’s PI Futures conference has warned.

A court has arranged for a woman whose child suffered “shocking” injuries at home to be represented by a new law firm in family law proceedings after her previous solicitor was found to have a conflict of interest on both professional and personal grounds.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a solicitor after she was convicted on four counts of providing immigration advice or immigration services while suspended from practice. The judge at Luton Magistrates’ Court had described “a trail of destruction towards vulnerable people she left in her wake”.