Regulation

There must be a “third way” of ensuring that qualified lawyers are competent without relying on disciplinary proceedings, the director of regulation and policy at the Legal Services Board has said.

The pandemic has led to “dramatic” change for notaries, introducing electronic notarisation of documents for the first time, a leading scrivener notary has said.

A tribunal has rejected an appeal by a solicitor against a £1,000 fine imposed by the SRA for breaching a written agreement he made during probate litigation.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority made 26 reports of suspected money laundering by solicitors to the National Crime Agency last year, involving more than £200m in possible criminal proceeds.

The London chambers sanctioned by the Chinese government last week has battened down the hatches, appearing to distance itself from the report which drew China’s ire.

Two-thirds of the reports of sexual misconduct by barristers received by the Bar Standards Board over the past two years have been referred for regulatory action, it has revealed.

The disparity between the best and worst legal practice course providers has continued to grow, with the attainment gap for White and BAME students remains stubbornly large.

A solicitor has had her claim for victimisation by the Law Society struck out by an employment tribunal on the basis that, as the chair of a committee, she was not an employee or office-holder.

A former partner at Wolstenholmes – the conveyancing firm whose catastrophic collapse cost the profession £13m – can become a partner once more after a ban was removed.

The Court of Appeal has strongly criticised barristers for not realising that the transcript of a trial was incorrect because they had not paid attention to the judge’s summing-up at the time.