Solicitors

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is planning to introduce a centralised advocacy assessment for solicitors wanting higher rights of audience, including those practising in the youth court.

A private client solicitor who lied to her clients over a period of almost four years at two different firms has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A solicitor has been jailed for 14 months after being found guilty on four counts of contempt of court for breaching undertakings given to the court about missing client money.

The chief executive of leading online will-writer Farewill has warned that “there will definitely be conflict between regulated and unregulated providers” over the future of the industry.

Disciplinary proceedings are not a “criminal/civil hybrid” and tribunals may draw adverse inferences from respondents staying silent, the High Court has made clear.

A solicitor who misled the Solicitors Regulation Authority about a “dubious” funder he was using to finance his new law firm has been fined £25,000.

The Law Society has launched what it called “a public legal education initiative” to help employees with NDAs – but it appears at odds with both its own guidance to solicitors and that of their regulator.

Partners and fee-earners in law firms which have closed should give “careful thought” to buying additional run-off cover to protect them when the Solicitors Indemnity Fund closes next year.

Three solicitors with convictions for drink-driving have been sanctioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority after signing regulatory settlement agreements.

A solicitor cleared of all the substantive charges against him by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has still been struck off because he misled the Solicitors Regulation Authority during its investigation.