Regulation

A solicitor who took £1m from the legal aid fund by fabricating cases and making hundreds of improper claims, and then abandoned his practice, has been struck off. On the first day of a two-day Legal Aid Agency visit, he said he had a problem with one of his children and had to leave – the investigating officer never saw him again.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s warning about using non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual harassment puts solicitors in a difficult position and may even discourage reporting, it has been claimed.

A solicitor who bombarded a work colleague with “deeply offensive” and racist messages has been fined £5,000 after a tribunal found that a reduction in the medication he was on led to the misconduct. It did not accept the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s argument that he had a duty to maintain his health and ensure the messages were not sent.

At the present rate, it will be 100 years before the percentage of black and minority ethnic QCs mirrors the general population, an event on improving race equality at the Bar heard last month. One black QC said there were times when he had turned up at court in a suit and was seen as anyone but the lawyer.

Six former leaders of defunct firm Cobbetts have been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for their actions as the firm was going under. However, the Solicitors Regulation Authority withdrew an allegation that they exhibited “manifest incompetence” in the way they ran the firm.

A barrister involved in a public spat with another barrister has failed in her attempt to judicially review a police decision to issue her with a prevention of harassment letter, which she claimed breached her human rights. Barbara Hewson said her tweets had to be seen in the context of a wider campaign against her.

A High Court judge has issued a restraining order to stop a man in a long-running divorce case from contacting his former wife’s solicitor on her private email address. Mr Justice Mostyn said “it is completely unacceptable that this form of harassment should take place”.

The First-tier Tribunal has upheld a council’s refusal to hand over information on its handling of a review into its dealings with a law firm that caused an uproar by sending out a series of tweets appearing to gloat over defeating cases brought by parents of children with special educational needs.

A senior barrister has been suspended for failing to pay over a period of nearly five years what was due to a senior clerk at his previous chambers, of which he was head, when it was dissolved. A Bar disciplinary tribunal said the treatment of the clerk was made worse by the fact that he had held his post for 32 years.

Law firms must not use non-disclosure agreements to prevent the reporting of professional misconduct – including sexual harassment or misconduct towards other employees or clients – the Solicitors Regulation Authority warned today.