Regulation

The government has rejected the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s bid to increase the amount it can fine law firms from £2,000 to £250m, Legal Futures can reveal. The SRA had wanted its powers to penalise ‘traditional’ firms to match those it already has for ABSs.

Self-employed barristers collectively earn around £2bn a year, more than doctors in private practice, according to Bar Council estimates. In a paper issued yesterday, the Bar Council said “the Bar overall continues to be a successful profession in terms of overall earnings”.

Solicitors are putting barristers under “increasing pressure” to enter into referral fee agreements, to the detriment of clients, the public interest and the junior Bar, the Bar Council has claimed. It also warned that providing junior barristers at discounted rates can amount to a referral fee.

A solicitor who was struck off in his absence has had his challenge to the decision thrown out by the High Court. Mr Justice Foskett warned that those who fail to attend Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearings do so at their own peril.

A volume conveyancing business owned by Britain’s fourth largest building society is targeting a move into other areas of legal services after receiving its alternative business structure (ABS) licence.

The chairman of the Legal Services Board has strongly criticised the Bar Council for its approach to dealing with the board, characterising its reaction to the Legal Services Act reforms as “walking backwards slowly”.

It will be for personal injury solicitors to convince the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that they are not paying referral fees once the ban comes into force, it emerged today as the SRA published its long-awaited consultation on how it will implement the ban.

Law firms may have just weeks to reorganise their business plans once a decision is made on enforcing the ban on referral fees in personal injury work, a leading practitioner has warned while branding the situation “unbelievable”.

Barristers are likely to be allowed to form partnerships next year and before they can create alternative business structures, the Bar Standards Board said last week. Meanwhile, it dropped a proposal to force barristers to withdraw from cases where a client refuses to reveal previous convictions to the court.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to “streamline” the alternative business structure (ABS) application process, its chief executive has revealed after its approach and the time it takes were criticised at a high-profile event yesterday.