Regulation

More than 80% of barristers have declined to disclose information about their socio-economic backgrounds when asked to do so by their professional regulator, it has emerged.

A criminal appeals charity run by lawyers has applied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to be a regulated legal practice, and could become the first charity to become a traditional law firm in its own right.

A solicitor who took advantage of a former client has been given a record £305,000 fine by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, more than six times the previous highest amount.

Sixteen businesses have so far completed their applications to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board, it has emerged. The barristers’ regulator will issue its first licences next month.

The Bar Standards Board has issued a formal request to Queen’s Counsel Appointments – the body which runs the annual silk round – to consider developing a system of re-accrediting criminal QCs as “it is not in the public interest to exempt QCs from quality assurance”.

More than 700 reports of bogus law firms were made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2014, an annual increase of over 25%, its latest risk update has revealed.

The six-month time limit for clients to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is to be doubled from this summer, it has announced. The new time limit, which takes effect from 9 July, runs from the date of receiving a final response from the lawyer.

Litigation solicitors were today warned by their regulator not to prioritise the client’s interest over their other duties, stressing that they are not “hired guns”. Balancing conflicting pressures in litigation was an occupational hazard for solicitors.

A Herefordshire law firm has welcomed a two-year jail sentence imposed on a former partner who tried to cover up her theft of £50,000 from probate matters by placing fake letters and copy cheques on their files, and making false entries in client ledgers.

Paralegal Shaun Lawler has said he hopes to be the first solicitor admitted to the profession through the ‘equivalent means’ route rather a traditional training contract.