Regulation

Alistair MacDonald QC, chairman of the Bar Council, has called for a revolution in the training of barristers to cut what he described as “astronomical” costs and increase the chances of successful students getting a pupillage. He also raised questions about the non-lawyer ownership of law firms.

Barristers’ call for a review of the standards of solicitor-advocates’ work in family cases has been received coolly by regulators, who have told Legal Futures they have seen no evidence of the kinds of problems that would justify an investigation.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a ‘warning notice’ to criminal law firms involved in the legal aid boycott. The notice questions whether two key aspects of the protocol issued last week, effectively limiting the boycott to the Crown Court, are within the rules.

There is a “compelling case to introduce a new regulatory settlement” for the legal market in the medium term, the Legal Services Board told the government today. A report said it was “increasingly clear” that the absence of full separation between the representative bodies and legal regulators is proving “a strong impediment to progress”.

The Bar Standards Board is to dispense with its ‘list of defaulting solicitors’ and replace it with a new rule allowing barristers to refuse work under the cab-rank rule where there is an “unacceptable risk” that they will not get paid.

A law firm which demanded the details of people who had contacted the Solicitors Regulation Authority to allege misconduct has been firmly rebuffed by the Law Society’s freedom of information commissioner.

A Bar Council report on the working lives of women barristers has revealed more clearly than ever the shocking sexism that some of them have faced during their careers, particularly while pupils. Women also complained of being forced to specialise in family and sex crime cases.

The Legal Services Board has approved radical reforms of the separate business rule for solicitors, while noting that the changes “carry some risks to consumers”. Information on the difference between regulated and unregulated services is to be tested with consumers before the change comes into force.

Richard Barnett, former chair of the Law Society’s land law and conveyancing committee, has told Legal Futures that he is “very surprised” at the decision by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) earlier this week that he should be struck off.

The legal profession is one of the sectors of the economy most frequently the subjects of data breaches and increasingly the target of scams and attacks cyber criminals, according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.