Regulation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has failed to strike out a damages claim by a solicitor at the High Court who claims it breached his confidentiality when it handed over documents from the firm to that solicitor’s former partner in relation to a separate legal action.

A personal injury firm was forced to sell its multi-track work at a “considerable” loss after the “sudden and unexpected” withdrawal of support from its bank, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has heard as it fined two partners and a non-lawyer partner for retaining unpaid professional disbursements in its office account.

The former senior and managing partners of Manchester firm Cobbetts, as well as its former finance director, are among eight people who have been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over alleged incompetence in the demise of the practice.

A law firm has acquired an alternative business structure licence to facilitate an equity swap, as part of its bid to integrate with a firm of Singapore lawyers and comply with restrictive local laws on ownership. A regulatory rule change in Singapore made it difficult for the branches of foreign firms to operate.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to do more to crack down on law firms that take cases from companies that generate leads through cold-calling, the new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has said. He also warned that government PI reforms have been paused, not scrapped.

A barrister who dishonestly failed to pay his share of chambers’ fees has been disbarred. Over two years, he failed to inform 4 Kings Bench Walk of the fees he had received for 32 public access and then dishonestly failed to pay the chambers £4,236 which he was legally liable for as a result.

The High Court has criticised an unregulated legal business run by a non-practising barrister for “sailing too close to the wind” by failing to be clear in correspondence that it was not a solicitors’ firm. However, service of a claim by the company on behalf of a litigant in person was not invalid.

The Conservative Party is to press on with reforming personal injury, with a pledge in its election manifesto today to “reduce insurance costs for ordinary motorists by cracking down on fraudulent and exaggerated whiplash claims”. It has also promised to “strengthen legal services regulation”.

The Lord Chief Justice has signalled concerns about the impending reform to educating law students, saying that a “very broadly based legal education” and law schools “as the centres of excellence” must not be diluted. Lord Thomas said the start of a legal career “must be at law school”.

A Court of Appeal ruling this week that exonerated claimant personal injury solicitors of gaming the system for low-value road traffic accident claims is also evidence that the Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to take more care when dealing with complaints by parties to litigation, it was argued yesterday.