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Four local authorities in the south of England are set to create an alternative business structure in a bid to increase their income in a time of budget cuts. Brighton & Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County Council are first to bring together their legal teams in a partnership.

Plans to create three new breeds of lawyer – probate practitioners, conveyancing technicians and probate technicians – are being published today by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Issuing its annual report for 2015 and business plan for 2016, the CLC said it is also to review its rule book in a bid to aid innovation in the market.

A barrister who was convicted of harassing his ex-partner with texts was last week suspended for three months by a bar tribunal for damaging the trust and confidence the public has in the profession. Peter Sefton was also sanctioned for failing to report both his conviction and subsequent six-month suspension by the Bar of Northern Ireland to the Bar Standards Board.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has outlined plans which would enable accountants to carry out all the reserved legal activities, including litigation and rights of audience. The ICAEW said its activities would be “restricted to the area of taxation”.

A leading criminal defence set that set up an alternative business structure last year has launched a military law practice that has clients being investigated by the Ministry of Defence-funded Iraq Historic Allegations Team.

The Legal Services Board has set out plans allowing it to study in more detail spending by approved regulators, such as the Law Society and Bar Council, before it approves their practising fees. The LSB warned in November of a “potentially high-profile and contentious” dispute with Chancery Lane over the use of fees.

North America is slowly moving towards opening up their legal markets, with Canada looking at non-lawyers to represent people with family law problems, and the American Bar Association setting out principles that should govern the regulation of “non-traditional legal service providers”.

A sole practitioner who was the victim of fraudsters and raided his clients’ money to pay them off, has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. He claimed he had been threatened by the fraudsters, who would come to his house to collect their money.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has accused banks, insurance companies and others of discriminating against accountants providing probate services, in favour of solicitors. It said various organisations “appeared not to have caught up with the consequences of the Legal Services Act”.

Many judges are not “advocacy trainers” and may produce “subjective” evaluations under the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates scheme, solicitor-advocates have warned. The Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates said there was a danger that some judges would assess on the basis of how they would have done it.