Regulation

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.

The Legal Services Board has put a temporary block on plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to widen its net to cover providers that do not need to be regulated. It said the reforms “could be seen as a significant shift in the regulation of legal services”.

In-house lawyers, “bashed up” by justice secretary Michael Gove over the issue of pro bono, should have an “open debate” about making it compulsory, the chair of the GC100 Group has said. He was speaking during a panel debate to mark the start of National Pro Bono Week.

A solicitor who last year was found by the High Court to have duped his client by conducting “fictitious” litigation that included faked judgments and telephone conferences involving the impersonation of his senior partner and of leading counsel, has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Clients may not need detailed information about separate businesses when work is referred to them by their law firm owners, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. The Legal Services Consumer Panel has warned that the new separate business rule could leave consumers in the dark.

Insisting on an upper second class degree for future barristers could impose a “discriminatory burden” on BAME students, who are less likely to obtain them, a leading academic has argued in response to a Bar Standards Board consultation that raises the possibility.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint over a law firm’s claim that its ‘no win, no fee’ clients would receive all of their damages. However, it emerged after the ASA made its finding that the firm, London practice Lorrells, had closed down.

Solicitors who refer consumers to their unregulated businesses under the revised separate business rule may obtain consent to do so, but there is a serious risk that it will not be informed, a member of the Legal Services Consumer Panel has warned.

A solicitor who failed to issue proceedings, fabricated settlement offers and paid clients “compensation” from his own money has been struck off. Mark Davies told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that some clients may have benefited from his actions.

Widespread failure to comply with diversity rules, cash-flow problems, disguised referral fees and fraud have all been revealed in a Bar Standards Board report on “high impact” chambers. Few chambers also bothered to get feedback from lay clients.