Regulation

The Treasury has rejected an argument by the Solicitors Regulation Authority that it needs full separation from the Law Society to avoid any interference in its operation of anti-money laundering rules. Instead it indicated that operational independence – which the regulator already has – was sufficient.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rebuked and fined £2,000 a solicitor already found by the High Court to be in breach of an undertaking, rejecting the argument that this was an abuse of process.

The decision by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to close its meetings to public and press scrutiny appears to be contrary to its obligations under the Legal Services Act 2007, a leading regulatory solicitor has said. He argued that the SRA is now facing a “crucial credibility test”.

The Bar Council has warned barristers about “bending the truth” when making claims on a personal or chambers website and said they must be able to support claims that they are one of the best in their field.

Plans to force lawyers to be more transparent about their fees and complaints records could first be piloted across areas of work that have different regulators. The Solicitors Regulation Authority could also widen its plan for an online register of solicitors’ regulatory data to encompass all regulated lawyers.

Research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to support its plans to reform indemnity insurance has “clear limitations”, ignoring the recent increase in claims related to cybercrime among other failures, the Law Society has claimed as it geared up for the next round of its battle with the regulator over the reforms.

The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) has launched a campaign to recruit paralegals – especially law graduates who have not gained further qualification – as associate members. They are entitled to use the letters ACILEx after their name.

A vastly experienced solicitor who took over £1.2m from client account in just two months to fund an online gambling habit has been struck off, despite the money being paid back and his claim that personal difficulties mean he had been in a “kamikaze” state of mind and “pushed the ‘sod it’ button”.

Barristers in the youth courts will have to make a declaration that they have reached the standards set out by the Bar Standards Board to continue providing the service, it has emerged. But there will be no compulsory training so as to avoid discouraging counsel from doing low-paid youth court work.

A lack of integrity on the part of a solicitor is “not synonymous” with dishonesty and is subject to a less stringent legal test, the High Court has ruled. Mr Justice Morris also said that it was wrong to define lack of integrity as requiring recklessness.