Solicitors

City solicitors have called for clarity from the Solicitors Regulation Authority over the reporting of rule breaches and misconduct, while arguing that compliance officers should be the first port of call for whistleblowers.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rejected a demand by the Legal Services Board that it start a review of the separate business rule, saying it can see “very little public interest justification” for doing so.

Nearly half of solicitors’ firms are not clear what regulatory outcomes they are expected to deliver, a survey on outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) has found – despite more than four out five people questioned being those responsible for ensuring compliance.

The rule which prevents solicitors and alternative business structures from hiving off non-reserved legal work into unregulated businesses risks making legal services more expensive, distorting competition and preventing innovation, the Legal Services Board has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s red-tape challenge could introduce “significant risks” if registered foreign lawyers are automatically allowed to become the owners and managers of smaller firms, the Law Society has warned.

The “popular myth” that conveyancing is low value is not borne out by the evidence, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found. But property work is continuing to cause the regulator problems, with stamp duty land tax schemes and ‘right to buy’ negligence litigation firmly on its radar.

A lender has lost its appeal against a High Court ruling that said a solicitor was not liable for its loss in a £2.5m mortgage fraud perpetrated by her former partner because she was not aware of the misrepresentations he made.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) will today formally recommend to the Lord Chancellor that will-writing – but not estate administration – should be regulated legal work. The LSB had initially intended to include estate administration.

Client confidentiality could be undermined by proposed changes to the European money laundering directive, the Law Society has warned. The removal of simplified due diligence provisions for client accounts is among a number of proposals to which the society objects.

An entrepreneurial personal injury solicitor has teamed up with his local newspaper to create a community charity funded by a substantial donation every time he receives an instruction from a member of the public.