Regulation

Minority ethnic barristers remain more likely than their White counterparts to be subject to complaints raised by the Bar Standards Board, with men more likely than women, new research has shown.

The alternative business structure owned by global insurance services firm Crawford & Company has been fined for failing to confirm that it had a compliant anti-money laundering risk assessment.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has had to intervene after two professional indemnity insurers offered firms cover that did not comply with its minimum terms.

The Lord Chancellor has welcomed the approval of the redesigned qualification that allows students without degrees to qualify as chartered legal executives with full practice rights.

The Bar Standards Board places “a disproportionate weight on the impact of its work on the profession” and pays insufficient regard to the impact on the public, the Legal Services Board said today.

The Solicitors Qualifying Exam will make it easier for people to qualify as solicitors but move the “bottleneck” to newly qualified roles, a leading academic and the training head of a major law firm have predicted.

A solicitor who received a suspended jail sentence after being convicted of making indecent images of children and producing cannabis has been struck off.

A young solicitor jailed for grievous bodily harm has escaped being struck off because of his genuine remorse and low likelihood of reoffending.

Lawyers should have to take online tests every 10 years to prove that they remain competent in their specialist fields, the chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel said yesterday.

A partner who defrauded his firm of £2.3m over seven years – some of which was done with the help of a client – has been jailed for four years and also struck off as a solicitor.