Regulation

The training reforms unveiled last week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority are “not a panacea for diversity” though they could make a “significant contribution”, a report for the regulator has concluded. The report also warned that the arrival of the solicitors qualifying examination in 2020 would make the training market “more complex to navigate”.

The Bar Standards Board has opened the way to replace the criminal standard of proof in disciplinary matters with the civil standard, in a move that could well ripple across the profession amid growing pressure to adopt the civil standard uniformly.

A barrister accused of forging client care letters has lost an appeal against his disbarment at the High Court. Mrs Justice Lang rejected Damian McCarthy’s argument that a Bar disciplinary tribunal was under pressure from the Bar Standards Board to convict him.

A prisoner has been awarded damages after officers at three different prisons where he was held opened legally privileged letters addressed to him. Sitting in the High Court, His Honour Judge McKenna said the fear of having his mail opened and read had deterred the inmate from pursuing his rights.

The solicitors qualifying examination (SQE) is likely to be of similar difficulty to the test American lawyers have to pass to qualify, but may actually seem harder to those taking it, according to the body that develops licensing tests for bar admission in the US.

The Scottish government has launched its own version of the Clementi review by appointing a panel of non-lawyers and lawyers to examine the regulation of the profession, with a particular focus on unregulated providers and their impact on consumers.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last week struck off a solicitor who used more than £500,000 from the estates of deceased clients over seven years, mainly to play the property market and repay debts. His own brother complained to the SRA after the solicitor failed to administer the estate of his own late father.

Would-be solicitors will not have to go through the legal practice course and a two-year training contract to qualify in future, after the Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed it is pressing ahead with its new training regime – but it has delayed implementation by a year to September 2020.

An alternative business structure is preparing to launch a group negligence action against conveyancers working for the developers and purchasers of ‘help to buy’ leasehold housing. Louie Burns, managing partner and co-owner of Leasehold Law, said the total damages claimed could potentially top £500m.

An unregistered barrister has been fined £1,000 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal for falsely describing himself as a solicitor and appearing in court when he did not have the right to do so. Another non-practising barrister has been disbarred, meanwhile, for stealing from her law firm employer’s petty cash and her colleagues’ handbags.