Regulation

A public access barrister who failed to pass on fees payable to a colleague has been suspended by a disciplinary tribunal. She was given a further suspension for not telling a client about a court order.

The Law Society has said it is “deeply concerned” that new rules proposed by the Legal Services Board could largely prevent it from either lobbying or criticising the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The position of the smaller legal regulators has been thrust into the spotlight, with the chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel suggesting that one may be at risk of losing its right to regulate.

The Legal Services Board is not putting enough pressure on the frontline regulators to publish details of lawyers’ disciplinary records on their online registers, it has been claimed.

A solicitor who took almost £1m from the estates of dead clients has been jailed for six years. He charged hugely inflated fees to deal with probate, in one case charging 50 times the estimated fee.

Research led by female barristers has highlighted the stark choices faced by women trying to balance working in private practice with looking after children.

Unpaid mini-pupillages could “indirectly discriminate” against would-be barristers from poorer backgrounds, a review by the Bar Standards Board has found.

The appeal system for failed asylum-seekers has been “heavily abused by some lawyers”, the former Home Office director-general of immigration enforcement has claimed.

A struck-off solicitor who became a claims manager, and was fined £220,000 for cold calling, cannot return to the profession, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has decided.

A dual-qualified solicitor and barrister who was struck off after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the Legal Aid Agency has now been disbarred. He was given a two-year suspended sentence.