Regulation

Refusal by the Solicitors Indemnity Fund to accept notifications of potential claims could be “catastrophic” for retired solicitors, a specialist in professional regulation and insurance has warned.

A leading silk who drove his car into a ditch while under the influence of alcohol has been fined £600 by the Bar Standards Board, one of three recent disciplinary cases involving drink-driving lawyers.

A disciplinary tribunal has thrown out as groundless an attempt to bring misconduct proceedings against the vice-president of the Law Society, in a rare private prosecution brought by a former client.

A struck-off senior partner has been restored to the roll over the objections of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, less than seven years after he was first barred from practising as a solicitor.

The High Court has refused a barrister permission to challenge a decision by the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman over a complaint she made about Supreme Court justice Lord Briggs.

A trainee solicitor who amended a document in order to mislead a third party has been rebuked and banned from working in the profession without the permission of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

An alternative regulatory regime that sees all legal services regulated, but providers subject to different requirements depending on the work they do, has been mooted by an independent review.

It was “manifestly unfair” for a circuit judge to issue a paralegal with a suspended six-month prison sentence for inadvertently breaching the Family Procedure Rules, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A solicitor who offered a client money to withdraw a complaint against him has been struck off. He also created a false settlement agreement that saw a client pay money to a fictitious claimant.

The Labour Party will look at the role of privilege in hindering the criminal prosecution of professionals advising on tax avoidance, shadow chancellor has said.