Regulation

The Law Society of Scotland has criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s call for the government not to exempt small law firms from paying the proposed economic crime levy.

Some 116 new QCs were named yesterday, with the appointment body revealing that more women applied for silk this year and the majority were successful – unlike men.

There was a muted reaction to yesterday’s call from the Competition and Markets Authority for a review of legal regulation, with CILEx the most prominent supporter.

A solicitor who allowed her struck-off partner to continue his involvement in their practice, and failed to obtain client consent before transferring matters to an unregulated firm, has been fined £2,000.

The case for wholesale reform of the way legal services are regulated is even stronger than it was four years ago when the Competition & Markets Authority last recommended it, the watchdog said today.

Pro bono work has become a “mainstream part of legal education” and a significant number of law schools plan to integrate it with the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, a major study has found.

Advocates unable to cover extended operating hours in the courts will likely lose work and could be driven out of the profession as a result, a high-profile group of women barristers has warned.

Small law firms should not be exempt from the economic crime levy the government wants to introduce to help tackle money laundering, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.

One of the leading figures in legal education has hailed the introduction next year of the SQE as a “revolution”, with another saying it will break down the barriers between academia and the profession.

Competitiveness in the legal market and the impact of lawtech on access to justice are among the research priorities the Ministry of Justice has set out for the next three to five years.