Regulation

A “manifestly incompetent” partner, whose “neglect and carelessness” led to a shortage in her law firm’s client account of £214,000, has been suspended for 18 months.

Compliance with the rules on price and service transparency is improving but a stubborn minority are facing disciplinary action, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.

A solicitor kept money meant for counsel for several months, altered the date of a fee note from his chambers and then pleaded with her boss to hide it from the regulator.

The much-anticipated report from National Trading Standards on estate agents charging referral fees has not recommended banning the practice, calling instead for mandatory disclosure.

The frontline regulators may be forced to fund the Legal Choices website if it is to reach its potential to become a “flagship consumer resource”, the Legal Services Board has hinted.

A leading criminal law solicitor convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman while drunk in Newcastle city centre on New Year’s Eve has been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

An under-pressure trainee solicitor who billed for work she anticipated doing has not been sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, even though she did not eventually do it.

The Legal Services Board has launched its review of the quality of the Bar Standards Board’s decision-making – but is not going to look at the controversy around last month’s Bar exams.

A solicitor who sent hundreds of offensive emails and tweets to the law firm acting for him in a dispute – and was convicted of a public order offence – has agreed to remove himself from the roll.

A proposal that in-house legal departments should be regulated as a separate regulated business unit within their organisations has been broadly welcomed by senior company lawyers.