Regulation

A barrister found to have bought and supplied cannabis has been reprimanded and fined by the Bar Standards Board.

Regulators must tighten their rules on training and supervision of unqualified immigration advisers, a major report has recommended. It also called for limits on the introduction of virtual trials.

A partner who allowed staff to pursue fraudulent personal injury claims and presided over a system that treated CMCs “as if they were the actual client” has been struck off.

The Bar Standards Board has warned consumers about the risks of choosing a barrister based on online reviews.

Consumer group Which? and a company that helps parents find childcare solutions are among the eight unregulated businesses that have been granted SRA Innovation Space waivers.

The standard of criminal advocacy is “generally competent”, but that of solicitor-advocates and in-house barristers is inferior to the self-employed Bar, research among judges has found.

Slater & Gordon has been rebuked and handed a record fine of £80,000 for an alternative business structure for inspecting confidential client data during the Quindell deal.

A solicitor has been suspended from practice despite admitting to dishonestly fabricating a backdated letter to persuade the Solicitors Regulation Authority that she had sent it the previous year.

The Attorney General is to be asked to put a permanent stop to years of vexatious litigation pursued by a struck-off solicitor against the Law Society, Bar Council, senior judges and many others.

A solicitor has been fined £12,500 for improperly ending a client’s appeal against her murder conviction without instructions and then repeatedly ignoring the appeal court’s invitation to explain his actions.