Solicitors

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority after quashing restrictions and disciplinary sanctions the regulator had imposed on an immigration caseworker. The ruling is one of the few successful challenges to the SRA’s disciplinary decision-making.

Two directors of collapsed Devon law firm Recompense, Carolyn Hales and Irene Webb, have admitted allowing its client account to be used as a banking facility following agreements with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Matthew Roddan, a third director of the firm, is on his way to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The battle for the future of legal regulation is set to move into high gear next week with publication of the government consultation on making regulators such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board fully independent of the representative bodies which technically oversee them.

A registered foreign lawyer, whose mortgage frauds over a matter of weeks have cost the SRA Compensation Fund almost £2.5m so far, has been struck off the register. But the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said his fellow director was “as much a victim as the parties who were subject to the fraudulent transactions”.

The government has agreed that insolvency practitioners should no longer be regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It said a reduction in the number of regulators would promote “consistency and efficiency” and “could reduce the overall cost of regulation which would ultimately benefit creditors”.

Eversheds and BPP University Law School have launched a six-year apprenticeship scheme leading to qualification as a solicitor. The law firm is believed to be the first to launch a scheme at this level, but its shape depends partly on the fate of the Solicitors Qualification Examination.

The Law Society has apologised to its freedom of information adjudicator after failing to provide him with an “additional and substantial” body of information relating to ‘Harry Potter solicitor’ Alan Blacker, also known as Lord Harley. Adam Sowerbutts described the incident as “troubling”.

A property management firm specialising in residential blocks of flats has turned itself into an alternative business structure, in what is understood to be first move of its kind. “At the moment we’re a property management company with a legal capacity. In 10 years’ time, it is likely to be the other way round,” said director Matthew Young.

Raleys, one of the law firms most strongly criticised for misconduct during the miners’ compensation scandal, has entered administration. Administrators have been appointed and Leeds firm Ison Harrison has taken over existing clients.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is considering creating an ‘innovation space’, which it said would “help existing firms develop their businesses and encourage new firms to come into the market”. “An innovative legal sector is essential for delivering the efficient, affordable services the public needs,” it said.