Compliance & Regulation

The dishonesty of John Blavo, whose legal aid firm made £22m of fraudulent claims on public funds, was “committed on an industrial scale”, a tribunal has said.

A solicitor who admitted to a “serious breach” of the accounts rules – in part due to the impact of Covid – has escaped with a rebuke from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The legal profession pays only “lip service” to diversity and “there is a lack of action or appetite to pursue meaningful change”, a report for the Legal Services Board has suggested.

The Times has apologised to a leading KC and paid her “substantial damages” for alleging that she had wrongly used the cab-rank rule to justify acting in a controversial Cayman Islands case.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has removed conditions on the practising certificate of a former law firm partner who now works remotely from Italy as a consultant.

CILEx Regulation has set out its case to remain the regulator for chartered legal executives, warning that it is prepared to go to court to clarify whether CILEX has the power to change.

The government should run “awareness programmes” to educate the public about the benefits of legal expenses insurance, the Association of Consumer Support Organisations has argued.

The emphasis put on price transparency and comparison shopping by the Competition and Markets Authority and adopted by legal regulators, is unlikely to make much difference.

A City lawyer who shared intimate pictures with a teenage apprentice and ogled her as she spread her legs in a swivel chair in the office was found guilty of multiple charges of misconduct last week.

It took the Solicitors Regulation Authority three years to decide not to take regulatory action against a solicitor, it has emerged.

Solicitors’ practising fees are set to increase substantially this year, with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Law Society needing an extra £9.3m to fund their work.

A solicitor who described a property developer currently being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office as his law firm’s “best client” has been fined £45,000 for misconduct.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled that a struck-off solicitor, who had still not paid £2,700 of a fine it imposed for a previous offence in 2011, cannot return to the profession.

The SRA Compensation Fund has paid out over £2.7m to clients of the law firm operated by Christopher Michael Bilmes, a solicitor jailed for fraud last month.

A male partner who sang a song about a trainee solicitor’s vagina, accompanied by lewd gestures, at a Christmas party gathering in a pub has been fined £23,000.