Solicitors

The number of law firms closed down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has fallen to its lowest point for more than a decade, as the impact of the 2008 crash finally recedes, figures released today have shown in an annual review that put into numbers the amount of work the regulator does.

A law firm in Surrey has become the latest to be sanctioned for its involvement in stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes, even though it stopped working on them within eight hours of the Solicitors Regulation Authority issuing a warning about their dubious nature.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a solicitor for dishonestly backdating enduring powers of attorney and claiming to have witnessed signatures “to save clients money” after an unblemished career of more than 40 years. He also failed to return money to a client for at least six years and used some of it for the benefit of another client.

A fee-earner who signed lasting powers of attorney in the names of her clients and misled the Office of the Public Guardian has accepted a rebuke, £1,000 fine and ban on working for law firms in the future. Meanwhile, a solicitor and a barrister separately convicted of drink driving have also been sanctioned.

A clerk who pursued personal injury claims against the wishes of his clients has been banned from working for law firms by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Michael Davis said he was acting “in accordance with office procedures” and was managing up to 400 live cases at any one time.

The Solicitors Qualifying Exam could be postponed beyond its launch date of 2020, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has admitted. In a further development, the regulator has said it was possible that the all-powerful central assessor of the new exam could also be a course provider.

A solicitor has been struck off for the second time and ordered to pay costs of almost £66,000 after dishonestly misleading mortgage lenders in order to service clients of a firm which was excluded from lenders’ panels. He also allowed his client account to be used as an escrow banking facility to lend credibility to dubious transactions involving diamonds and fine art.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s decision to allow solicitors to practise from unregulated law firms opens up the prospects of insurers and others offering their customers legal advice and law firms restructuring themselves to handle all unreserved work in an unregulated business, it was predicted yesterday.

The Advertising Standards Authority has rejected a complaint by a solicitor that the Law Society misled consumers by claiming that all members of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme go through “rigorous examination and testing to demonstrate that they have a high level of knowledge, skills, experience and practice”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to press ahead with allowing practising solicitors to deliver unreserved services to the public from unregulated organisations, as part of a radical shake-up of the way it oversees the profession. At its heart are a seven-page code of conduct for solicitors and six-page code for firms.