Solicitors

Unlimited paid holiday leave has helped raise overall productivity, improved teamwork and reduced sick leave, according to one of the first law firms to adopt it.

Five associations representing law lecturers and academics have urged the Solicitors Regulation Authority to delay the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.

Former Freshfields partner Ryan Beckwith is not a “future risk” to the public or the profession despite his “inappropriate conduct” with a junior colleague, the SDT has said in its long-awaited ruling.

The Law Society and Bar Council have strongly attacked plans by the Legal Ombudsman to extend its publication of information about complaints, arguing that it would not help consumers.

A solicitor who took holiday sickness leads from unregulated claims management companies has been rebuked by his regulator – as has one convicted of assaulting an emergency worker.

A former civil servant who also held a senior role at the Co-operative Group has been appointed to the new role at the Solicitors Regulation Authority of executive director for strategy and innovation.

A High Court family judge has ordered that public funds be made available to pay for lay advocates to support intellectually impaired parents so as to lift the load from their solicitors.

An experienced solicitor who acted in a “surprisingly incompetent manner” has been heavily fined for failing to clarify whether instructions from a client living in Pakistan were genuine.

An immigration lawyer who made “catastrophic decisions” to channel fees from an “inherently vulnerable” asylum seeker into her personal bank account has been struck off.

Legal advice privilege only applies where documents were created with the “dominant purpose” of seeking or providing legal advice, appeal judges have ruled.