Compliance & Regulation

Lawyers being investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority should show “regulatory realism” and avoid acting as if they faced private litigation, an expert has cautioned.

A man who deleted emails to his wife, a fellow solicitor and co-owner of their firm, to try and hide an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, has been struck off.

A solicitor who suggested a dishonest scheme that would allow his client to commit benefit fraud – and enrich himself – has been struck off.

A barrister who was suspended for four months in 2020 following an assault conviction, has been fined £5,500 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal for drink driving.

A lawyer who claimed she was unaware that she was a law firm’s partner has been sanctioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), two years after another partner said the same.

The BSB will not take action against barristers who have committed not to prosecute climate protestors or work for fossil fuel companies – at least until they actually refuse instructions.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has resisted pressure from the Law Society to impose a levy on the profession “as soon as possible” to raise funds for the Solicitors Indemnity Fund.

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.