Solicitors

A solicitor who lied to potential insurers, on an application for judicial review and then his regulator – in a bid to evade disciplinary action – has finally been struck off.

There has been some improvement in how lawyers approach the use of non-disclosure agreements, but regulators must take “rigorous enforcement action” over poor conduct, MPs said today.

A former solicitor has been jailed for four years and two months after admitting to plundering a dead client’s estate and then forging other clients’ wills to pay off the first client’s beneficiaries.

The two partners at the same firm who acted for a man convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and the estate of the victim suing him have been cleared of acting in a conflict of interest.

Dozens of law firms are at risk of enforcement action from the SRA after a check found that only 25% of websites were fully compliant with the new rules on price and service transparency.

A trainee solicitor who forged a client’s signature in a bid to pass off a copy share certificate as the original has been banned from working in the profession without the permission of the SRA.

A solicitor who “brass-plated” the practices of other solicitors and did little to supervise them has been struck off, after one misappropriated £140,000 of client money. He also paid unlawful referral fees.

The Legal Services Board has approved client protection arrangements to back the new breed of freelance solicitors, despite opposition from the Law Society and Legal Services Consumer Panel.

The costs of practising for solicitors is set to fall this year even though both the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority’s budgets are on the rise.

Two immigration lawyers who clocked up 14 judicial review applications in a single year found to be totally without merit have been fined and made subject to conditions on their future practice.