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Two personal injury solicitors have been sanctioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for breaches of the referral fee ban. One was rebuked and fined £2,000 – the most the regulator could levy without a referral to a disciplinary tribunal – while the other was simply rebuked.

The public believes that the legal system should be modernised faster than is happening at present, with many feeling “the justice system has retained tradition at the expense of efficiency”, new research has found. Education about the law and legal process, and simplifying legal language were also keys to improving access to justice.

The leaders of the Solicitors Regulation Authority have made it clear that they believe it would be better for the public and the profession if they had complete independence from the Law Society. They were responding to the Treasury’s announcement earlier this week on independent regulation.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has fined or reprimanded the directors of a law firm for using legal aid disbursement payments to keep the practice afloat, after the economic recession and a merger put it under financial pressure. But it emerged during the hearing at the end of September that if payments owing to the firm had been made promptly, it would have been well within its bank overdraft.

On its first anniversary, Aspire Law, a unique alternative business structure set up by Hampshire solicitors Moore Blatch and national spinal injury charity Aspire, has good reason to be cheerful. Twelve months on, the joint venture has grown to the point where it is challenging established players in this niche part of the serious injury market.

The number of students on the Bar Professional Training Course from Asian backgrounds has increased to the point where it almost equals the number of white students, new figures have revealed. The figures have also highlighted the tiny number of students with lower second degrees who secure a pupillage.

The government should return regulation to the legal profession’s representative bodies, rather than introduce full separation, the Law Society has said in response to yesterday’s surprise announcement from the Treasury that separation is now on the cards. The move is set to open up the fault lines in the current regulatory set-up created by the 2007 Legal Services Act.

The Legal Services Board has joined solicitors in questioning government plans to introduce additional regulation of criminal advocacy. The Bar Council supported the proposals by the Ministry of Justice.

Law firms that switch regulator should not be forced to buy six years of run-off insurance cover, CILEx Regulation has argued in a report for the Legal Services Board. It said that only firms which were actually closing should have to buy run-off cover.

The government said today that it will “further reduce barriers” to make it easier for alternative business structures, such as supermarkets and estate agents, to offer legal services like conveyancing, probate and litigation. It will also seek the complete separation of regulators from representative bodies.