Regulation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided not to grade itself as ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ in a self-assessment exercise for the Legal Services Board. Chief executive Paul Philip told a board meeting yesterday that the SRA had chosen to respond “in a humble way” rather than stressing its achievements.

Michael Caplan QC, one of the few solicitor QCs and a partner at Kingsley Napley for over 30 years, has been recruited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to head its new regulatory board.

A barrister who brought 30 failed employment tribunal claims in four years, mainly against employers and recruiters for legal roles, and also the Bar Council over its pupillage rules, has been disbarred.

Solicitors will not have to declare on their practicing certificates that they carried out professional training for the year 2015-16, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has admitted. However, they will still have to do their training.

Barristers are shunning the chance to go into direct competition with solicitors and conduct litigation for clients in addition to their advocacy, it has emerged. Delegates at Saturday’s Bar conference also heard that while public access also remains “under the radar”, there is evidence of clients preferring the cheaper option of going direct to a barrister.

Increased risks accepted by commercial lawyers in an effort to please their clients could result in “law firm collapse”, a report for the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned. Three-quarters of lawyers told researchers said they were “forced to accept more and more challenging terms of engagement with little room for discussion”.

Barristers have been slow to adopt new entity models, but take-up is “increasing significantly” since the application process became more streamlined, according to the Bar Standards Board. Saturday’s Bar conference heard that several chambers are now considering incorporation.

The High Court has rejected by an appeal by a barrister against a finding of a Bar disciplinary tribunal that he abused his position by threatening to sue a dentist. He also tried to “fortify” his threat by telling the dentist that he was a barrister, mediator and medical negligence expert “and asserting that he would win the case”.

There are no depths to the “ingenious means by which these charlatans would seek to dress up their referral fees”, the chairman of the Bar Council has said as he attacked the “grubby and squalid” back-handers paid by some barristers in exchange for work from solicitors.

Cyber criminals have caused “substantial losses” to 50 law firms this year, ranging from £50,000 to £2m, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. The regulator said a further 20 firms had fallen victim to email redirection scams.