Other lawyers

New rules which clearly limit the influence the Law Society can have on the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and the Bar Council on the Bar Standards Board, have been published.

The frontline regulators are making “very good progress” in improving price transparency, the Legal Services Board has said – but its consumer panel was far less impressed.

Most home-buyers do not know if their conveyancer paid a fee for a recommendation from their estate agent, according to new research from the CLC.

Solicitors’ firms are moving their whole practices or conveyancing departments to the oversight of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, it has emerged.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has strongly criticised the “insufficient” plans of the second largest probate regulator to introduce new requirements on publishing prices.

Consumers using an online estimate generator should not have to give lawyers their contact details before receiving the figure, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has said.

An end to owners of CMCs closing down a distressed firm and opening another – known as ‘phoenixing’ – is on the cards under new proposals from the Financial Conduct Authority.

A woman who falsely claimed to be a qualified immigration lawyer, and did not deliver on what clients paid her £68,000 for, has been jailed for five years.

Licensed conveyancers will be required to publish price and service information on their websites from December after the Legal Services Board approved their regulator’s new rules.

The big CMCs will be hit hardest by fee increases planned by the Financial Conduct Authority to fund the £17m cost of their new regulatory regime.