Regulation

A “potentially high-profile and contentious” dispute between the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the Law Society is looming over how the latter spends money derived from practising fees. The LSB is to review its 2009 Practising Fee Rules after a hole was found in the Legal Services Act 2007.

Solicitors acting for both sides in property transactions are under a duty to disclose crucial details to lenders, the Court of Appeal has ruled. They are not expected to act as a “detective or bloodhound”, but should report adverse “non-confidential information”.

A Bar disciplinary tribunal has suspended barrister Martin Wynne Jones for three months for representing clients in court without a practising certificate, while disciplinary action has also been taken against a barrister who falsely claimed to have a law degree, and another who made false declarations about criminal convictions.

Clerksroom Direct, which has over 1,000 direct access barristers on its books, has said that only around only 20% of its recent cases have come directly from members of the public. Half came from law firms and the rest from barristers’ chambers.

Barristers need to resist pressure from big clients and government departments to agree not to act against them in the future if they want instructions, the Bar Council has said. It said it would be “professionally improper” to agree to such a condition.

Documents drawn up by Clifford Chance for a special RBS committee dealing with the LIBOR scandal are protected by legal advice privilege, the High Court has decided, saying that lawyers must have able to give clients “candid factual briefings” as well as legal advice.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has closed a host of law firms in recent weeks, including two London firms on the grounds of suspected dishonesty.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has halved its budget for appeals from alternative business structures, as it has yet to receive one since the Solicitors Regulation Authority started licensing them in 2012.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority should drop its plans for a centralised assessment test for would-be solicitors at the point of qualification and instead introduce a centralised test for the legal practice course, young lawyers have argued.

The number of complaints about claims management companies received by the Legal Ombudsman in the first six months of this year has hit almost 9,000 – a far higher amount than expected. However the number actually investigated was lower than predicted.