Solicitors

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last week struck off a solicitor who used more than £500,000 from the estates of deceased clients over seven years, mainly to play the property market and repay debts. His own brother complained to the SRA after the solicitor failed to administer the estate of his own late father.

Would-be solicitors will not have to go through the legal practice course and a two-year training contract to qualify in future, after the Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed it is pressing ahead with its new training regime – but it has delayed implementation by a year to September 2020.

An alternative business structure is preparing to launch a group negligence action against conveyancers working for the developers and purchasers of ‘help to buy’ leasehold housing. Louie Burns, managing partner and co-owner of Leasehold Law, said the total damages claimed could potentially top £500m.

The Foreign Office has issued a warning to holidaymakers visiting Spain about claims management companies encouraging them to make false compensation claims that they fell ill while abroad. It is the latest move in a growing backlash against what is seen as a “surge” in such claims.

A solicitor who qualified more than 50 years ago has agreed to remove his name from the roll after admitting to multiple rule breaches, including failing to register clients as owners of a property and pay the stamp duty land tax due. He then over-charged them for the work he did.

The High Court ruling last week that said a lack of integrity on the part of a solicitor is the same as dishonesty could cause regulators real problems when prosecuting cases where they are not sure they have enough to establish dishonesty, it has been claimed.

New anti-money laundering regulations planned by the Treasury would impose “disproportionate and unnecessary” burdens on law firms, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned. It was particularly unhappy about a ‘criminality test’ for lawyers.

Insurance companies have referred 26 law firms to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in recent months through a new process that aims to “better facilitate exchange of information” between the regulator and the Insurance Fraud Bureau, it has emerged.

The failures which led to a record fine for Clyde & Co were “particularly glaring” as it was “a large and, previously, reputable firm”, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has declared in approving the sanction. It emerged earlier this month that the City practice had been fined £50,000 but the full ruling has only just been published.

Two partners found by the High Court to have displayed “manifest incompetence” in accepting £573,000 lent to their law firm by the controversial Axiom Legal Financing Fund, have been respectively suspended and fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.