Regulation

A solicitor who lied in her application for a training contract at Weightmans and then for a new job at DLA Piper after qualifying has been struck off.

A criminal defence barrister who specialised in fraud work has been jailed for 18 months for tax fraud. He failed to submit 26 VAT returns or any self-assessment returns since 1999.

A solicitor who used £500,000 of money in his firm’s client account to feed his gambling addiction – although he paid most of it back in winnings – has been struck off.

A third of women barristers, those from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background and disabled barristers have experienced harassment, bullying or discrimination in recent years.

A young personal injury solicitor who dishonestly backdated 23 documents over a nine-month period to conceal inactivity as she supposedly struggled to keep on top of her workload, has been struck off.

An events executive at a well-known London law firm who kept raffle prizes for herself has been banned from working in the profession.

There needs to be a culture of awareness and openness about bullying by judges, the chairman of the Bar Council has said.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans to reform professional indemnity insurance and the compensation fund put too much risk on consumers without any commensurate benefit, a watchdog has warned.

A leading claims management company fined £533,000 for multiple rule breaches – including its sales agents calling banks pretending to be customers – has lost an appeal against the sanction. The tribunal heard the call of an employee telling his grandmother that the CMC had changed its working practices for a regulatory audit.

Law firms will have to publish their prices for a range of consumer and business services, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided, but they will not have to put their complaints records in the public domain. It comes alongside research showing consumers particularly wanted information on price and quality before choosing a lawyer.