Regulation

A Bar Standards Board-regulated entity has acquired more than 800 clients in less than 18 months, which it claims makes it the largest in the country, by capitalising on barristers’ relatively new right to conduct litigation. It also said that having the involvement of barristers from the start of a case speeds them up.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has closed down controversial Bolton law firm Asons shortly after it ceased trading and was sold to another practice, it emerged yesterday. Meanwhile, a set of accounts for the first six months of Asons’ current financial year indicated that it was turning around the previous year’s poor performance.

The McKenzie Friend Marketplace, which hopes to help hundreds of law students find paid work offering legal services, has responded to criticism from practitioners by announcing that it will ban active students from providing legal advice – although they will be able to give clients other types of support.

The Legal Services Board is to review the conduct of the Law Society since autumn 2014 to determine whether Chancery Lane interfered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s independence, it has emerged. The wide scope of the investigation indicates that the board will dig deep into the society’s internal workings.

There is a risk that the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans for education reform will do little to disrupt the privilege of students with access to funding and other advantages, according to an independent report commissioned by the regulator.

A prominent solicitor-turned-barrister specialising in insurance litigation has set up a chambers under the oversight of the Bar Standards Board, which eventually will offer litigation in addition to advocacy. Stephen Hines is also the vice-chairman of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers.

A respected solicitor who took £4m from her clients – and also stole Church of England cash in her role as registrar with the Diocese of Wakefield – has been jailed for seven years. Linda Box, who is 67, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud, two of forgery and one of theft.

A solicitor who used and paid a struck-off solicitor in his practice, submitted false costs claims to defendant insurers and was also sanctioned by the Football Association for his work as a player’s agent, has accepted a £2,000 fine from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

For the first time, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has activated a suspended suspension, after a solicitor revealed he had breached a disciplinary order in the course of applying to have it varied. The SRA argued that if this matter did not lead to activation of a suspension, it was hard to envisage when it would.

Phil Shiner was prepared to do whatever it took to secure clients and high-profile cases, along with the “reputational and financial reward” that came with them, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal concluded in deciding to strike him off as a solicitor last month. Its full 78-page ruling was published yesterday and revealed the SRA is seeking £723,000 in costs.