Regulation

A one-time member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has been jailed for providing unregulated immigration advice. Prince Adewale Adeola, 53, was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to 11 charges.

The Bar Council has closed its flagship nursery scheme at Smithfield in the City of London, citing a lack of places and promising to find other, “more effective” ways of supporting barristers with childcare responsibilities. The Bar Nursery – five years in the making – was launched to some fanfare in April 2013.

The Solicitor General has urged chartered legal executives to apply for judicial appointment in a bid to help make the bench more diverse. At the same time, a Sikh circuit judge told them that those entering the law from a non-traditional background had to have the mindset that they are better than those from a traditional one.

A personal injury solicitor convicted of benefit fraud after being paid for case referrals while receiving employment support allowance has been struck off. He was convicted of dishonestly failing to promptly notify the Department for Work and Pensions of a change in circumstances which he knew would affect his entitlement to benefit.

Female barristers need to actively encourage and mentor the next generation of women at the Bar amid the continuing difficulties of achieving equality, a leading silk said last week. Jo Delahunty QC said it was the responsibility of those who have climbed the ladder “to lean down to offer a hand for others to hold as they try and climb up”.

The Bar Standards Board is to consult on removing the rule that allows one person to veto their chambers reporting anonymised data on the sexual orientation, religion and belief of all members, in a move it said was supported by LGBT+ members of the Bar.

A solicitor who was suspended indefinitely after failing to pay his firm’s indemnity insurance premiums and later became bankrupt has been allowed to return to the profession by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Imposing conditions to prevent him managing a firm, the SDT said the bankruptcy had wiped out the debt relating to the insurance premiums.

The Legal Services Board has approved a rule change by the Solicitors Regulation Authority which will make it easier for law firms to switch regulators. In a move which is likely to see more firms leave the SRA than join it, the requirement that they must obtain six years of run-off cover before switching to another regulator will be removed.

Conservative MPs yesterday cautioned the government against over-reacting to the abuses in the personal injury market by taking away the right of genuinely injured people to sue. Bob Neill, the chairman of the justice select committee, also warned the SRA that it needed to focus more on rogue PI solicitors than arguments with the Law Society over independent regulation.

A drastic reduction in the role of the Inns of Court in the training of barristers – to the point where barristers would not have to be members of one – and an end to the required period of 12 months for pupillages are on the table as the Bar Standards Board takes the next step in its Future Bar Training initiative.