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Law firms no longer need to carry out reserved activities in order to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority – but the regulator has offered assurances that it will not seek to bring the currently unregulated into its net as a form of quasi-accreditation.

Barristers have been warned about instructing solicitors who are charging clients more for their services than counsel themselves are charging. The Bar Council has also cautioned self-employed barristers to be careful not to enter arrangements with solicitors which inadvertently turn them into employed barristers.

Justice minister Shailesh Vara today gave absolutely no ground when quizzed by MPs about Lord Dyson’s fierce criticisms of enhanced court fees. However he did admit that the increase had resulted in fewer claims.

A compliance officer for finance and administration at a Lincoln law firm has agreed to have his activities in the profession restricted after admitting to misappropriating £120,000 in a rare regulatory settlement agreement involving a non-solicitor.

Findings of dishonesty, especially against solicitors, should not be made without “the most careful consideration” of what they say in their defence, appeal judges have warned in a case in which they overturned a High Court decision that two solicitors were guilty of “dishonest assistance in a breach of trust”.

Barristers are at risk of being “squeezed out of the market by a declining case load, a surfeit of barristers and increasing competition from both other regulated legal professionals as well as unregulated service providers”, the Bar Standards Board has warned.

Commercial law firms have a limited “window of opportunity” to adopt new delivery models which is unlikely to “remain open forever”, a report has warned. Jomati Consultants also revealed that four City firms are on course to receive almost £8m in government grants as a result of opening low cost centres.

Law firms are “in good shape financially”, with median income increasing by 5.4% last year, according to Law Society research. The survey found the median fee income for a partner had reached almost £620,000 and a solicitor almost £118,000 – but more partners than last year are drawing too much.

A judge who wrongly questioned the status of a solicitor after doing his own research on the Law Society’s website, has been criticised by the Court of Appeal. The judge at Central London County Court complained that he had prosecuted “too many swindlers” as a barrister, and was “naturally suspicious of everybody, particularly in this court”.

The general public strongly supports the notion of full separation of legal regulators from professional bodies, according to the results of an opinion poll commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The Law Society hit back by appearing to suggest an SRA stripped of its power to set solicitors’ standards should be merged with other legal regulators.