Regulation

A barrister who overturned his disbarment at the Court of Appeal last year has been disbarred again. Damian McCarthy was found by a Bar disciplinary tribunal to have forged client care letters, after a direct access client complained.

There has been a sharp rise in the number of solicitors appearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal amid claims that some “do not have the rounded set of skills to run a business”. The SDT’s annual report also revealed that it will be looking at whether the Solicitors Regulation Authority is to blame for delays in hearings.

Litigants with limited funds should use direct access barristers to represent them in court rather than pay for McKenzie Friends, the Bar Council has argued. The Bar Council, along with the Law Society and Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, supported the judiciary’s call for a ban on professional McKenzie Friends.

The chief executive of a pioneering set of direct access chambers has said victory in a group action at the Court of Appeal proves barristers can “cut out the intermediaries”. Carla Morris-Papps said direct access had meant “massive savings” for over 200 clients because the case had not gone through solicitors.

Only four organisations have so far taken advantage of a Solicitors Regulation Authority initiative that gives them access to information about all 10,000 law firms. On top of the searchable, online database of firms that was announced in March, this basic data was also made available to registered data re-publishers via a new web service.

People are avoiding regulation as immigration advisers by “purportedly acting as McKenzie Friends”, the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner has warned. It said they were “effectively frustrating the will of Parliament”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has opened a second front in its campaign for full separation from the Law Society by appealing to the Treasury to intervene over the issue of money laundering. The Ministry of Justice is expected to reveal its plans on separation after the EU referendum.

A conveyancer who failed to report important details to lender clients or follow their instructions in over 100 transactions has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Meanwhile, an assistant solicitor who failed to secure a party’s interest in a property by registering a form at the Land Registry, has been fined £5,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A solicitor who faked three client care letters and backdated them has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The SDT rejected Rafique Chowdhury’s claims that he acted “in a moment of madness” and was “regularising the files, not seeking to mislead anyone”.

The Legal Services Board has announced a change in its practising certificate fee rules, which will put the spotlight on spending by professional bodies such as the Law Society and Bar Council. Both professional bodies opposed the change.