Regulation

A male solicitor who groped a junior female colleague on two occasions and accepted a police caution for sending her an obscene text message has been suspended for 18 months.

A barrister who sent a “seriously offensive” tweet that was “racially charged and derogatory to women” has been reprimanded and given a “low-level” fine of £1,000.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has pledged to add its “unique voice” to the wider policy debate on access to justice issues as it looks to become more assertive.

The Legal Ombudsman could start publishing its full decisions, as well as annual reviews of the most complained-about lawyers and firms, to improve the quality of information it makes available.

Students aspiring to careers as barristers are not always told honestly the difficulties they will face with obtaining a pupillage and funding their studies, according to a retired High Court judge.

A former partner in the London office of US firm Akin Gump has been struck off after making nearly £25,000 of false expenses claims. He said he was suffering from a severe depressive illness.

MP Sir Norman Lamb has called on the SRA to investigate national law firm Hill Dickinson over claims it failed to disclose a crucial document in a whistleblowing dispute involving the NHS.

Inappropriate behaviour by male barristers in robing rooms and at Bar messes “still abounds”, with many women afraid to speak out, the Association of Women Barristers has said.

The SRA could ask law firms to pay for their own research and writing skills tests when hiring trainees, instead of testing them in stage 1 of the new Solicitors Qualifying Exam, it has emerged.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority was wrong to sanction a senior finance partner at City giant Hogan Lovells for discriminating against his children’s pregnant nanny, a leading regulatory QC has said.