Regulation

A solicitor who “exploited” a criminal client who he met in a pub by acting as advocate without authorisation and demanding a £65,000 loan has been struck off. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Stephen Paul Kettlewell failed to repay the loan.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has asked the House of Commons’ justice select committee to assume responsibility for holding it to account once independence from the Law Society has been achieved.

A trainee legal executive has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for taking almost £24,000 from his law firm’s client account. BRM Solicitors said Joseph Aaron Cooper had betrayed its trust.

Barristers specialising in professional negligence are more likely than colleagues in any other area of law to generate complaints, a report by the Bar Standards Board has found. The research found that ethnicity did not have an impact on complaints, but gender did, with men more likely to be complained about.

A Bar disciplinary tribunal has found ‘named and shamed’ barrister Tariq Rehman guilty of misconduct for a second time. In its latest ruling, the tribunal found that Mr Rehman had delayed or failed to refund fees and pay compensation awards to clients.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has lifted the indefinite suspension of a solicitor who retrained as a will-writer after suffering a “major depressive illness”. The suspension prevented him from carrying out any work as a member of the Institute of Professional Willwriters.

Three partners at well-known London law firm Fladgate have been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The 73-partner firm has said it is “fully supporting” the lawyers, who have all been accused by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of using the firm’s client account as a “banking facility”.

Barristers who outsource work must not “ask for or accept” any payment from third parties, the Bar Council has warned. However, third parties can “for commercial reasons” offer services to barristers at lower than normal rates, so long as the “entire benefit” is passed to lay clients.

The Lord Chancellor has been awarded almost £1m by the High Court in its battle with a legal aid firm over payments on account. Mr Justice Holgate said the evidence showed “over-claiming to a substantial extent in a substantial number of cases” by Charles Ete & Co.

Local government lawyers have obtained a QC’s opinion in a dispute with the Solicitors Regulation Authority over their ability to provide reserved legal activities to external bodies and individuals, it has emerged. The move follows complaints that the SRA was forcing councils to set up ABSs.