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A “significant majority” of the 250 or so responses to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultation on the proposed Solicitors Qualifying Examination have expressed concerns about the plans, the regulator has acknowledged. Responses seen to date indicate a wall of opposition.

The initial findings from the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s ‘Question of trust’ exercise has found sharply divergent views about how to judge solicitors’ misconduct. More than 5,000 people took part in the consultation, which aims to determine the correct baseline of solicitors’ behaviour when making regulatory decisions.

In the event a large firm collapses, the Solicitors Regulation Authority expects the market to “gobble” up the pieces rather than leave it to the regulator to sort out, it has emerged. Chief executive Paul Philip said the question of whether the regulator could cope with a large firm going down had been discussed internally.

A solicitor who admitted he should never have qualified in the first place has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for misusing client money. Separately, it struck off a former sole practitioner who is serving four years in prison for fraud after stealing over £620,000.

The test aimed at weeding out students with little chance of passing the Bar professional training course has so far failed to achieve its objective because the pass mark has been set too low, the Bar Standards Board revealed yesterday.

The solicitor who safeguarded more than £100,000 of stolen cash for a charismatic conman posing as the Pope’s banker was last week spared jail after a judge heard the stress of the case has robbed her of the chance of conceiving a child.

The law firm owned by global insurance giant Markel relaunched this week with a product that unbundles legal advice for small and medium-sized businesses. LHS Solicitors offers a £50 ‘quick review’ service that allows clients to post relevant documents online, if necessary, and then receive an advice call within two hours.

A global study into a key element behind artificial intelligence (AI) and using big data in the legal sphere has received the green light and €1.2m of European funding. Meanwhile, in a related development, Deloitte, has undertaken what is thought to be the world’s largest deployment so far of AI in contract analysis.

The first trial of online dispute resolution (ODR) in the UK’s courts and tribunals will introduce a concept known as the “online continuous hearing”, it has emerged, with the Senior President of Tribunals urging a change in perception of litigation from an adversarial dispute to “a problem to be solved”.

Helping to enhance public understanding of the law will “unlock demand for legal services”, solicitors have been advised as part of a new push to promote public legal education (PLE). It came as a high-powered non-partisan group of MPs and peers was formed to promote PLE.