Solicitors

A retired solicitor has been made subject to a maximum 15-year bankruptcy restriction order for misappropriating funds from his clients’ accounts, overcharging clients and falsifying his records to cover up his actions. Meanwhile, a solicitor from Essex has been disqualified as a director for five years.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to continue regulating most consumer credit activities carried out by law firms after new proposals were issued last week. A consultation said solicitors would be able to carry out mainstream consumer credit activities as long as they are central to the legal services they provide.

Solicitors running two firms caught out by changes to the indemnity insurance rules and the closure of the assigned risks pool in 2012-13 have been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for failing to wind-down their practices in an orderly manner.

The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is finally set to go ahead after the Supreme Court ruled that it was “the only way” to protect all members of the public involved in criminal proceedings “at an upper level”. But it has been claimed that the decision will make it harder for similar schemes to be introduced for other areas of law.

The Law Society recorded a £33m surplus last year, its annual report has shown, while former chief executive Des Hudson received a pay packet of £407,000 in his final year. However, the society has proposed retaining the practising certificate fee at £320.

Removing the ban on referral fees in criminal cases could lead to “arrest chasing” by solicitors, the Bar Council has warned, and result in “as much public opprobrium” as ambulance chasing. However, the Bar Council backed third-party accounts for solicitors.

Two partners have been cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal of misconduct relating to errors and omissions in their firm’s application for indemnity insurance, and unusually were allowed to maintain their anonymity throughout.

The Law Society has launched a sustained attack on plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to introduce third-party accounts, allow referral fees in legal aid cases and remove the requirement on firms to carry out reserved activities.

Ending the ban on referral fees in legal aid cases risks approving the practices of some of the solicitors’ profession’s “least ethical and least professional members”, barristers have claimed.

Charles Plant, the former chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, has described the award of a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List as “recognition” of the work done by the regulator during his tenure. Mr Plant, who is now retired, was cited for services to legal regulation and education.