Compliance & Regulation

A direct access barrister who failed to justify fees for herself and a colleague of £420,000 plus VAT for a divorce hearing has been fined £5,000 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal.

A barrister who described a judge’s summary of a witness’s evidence as “absolute rubbish” and asked if the judge was giving evidence has been suspended for four months.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s fining powers should go “considerably beyond” the proposed increase to £25,000, the Legal Services Board has told the Lord Chancellor.

A trainee solicitor who subjected two female colleagues to “harassing and abusive behaviour” at a work Christmas party – groping them and telling one he had “roofied” her drink – has been fined.

The sister and brother partners of an Essex law firm have rejected acquisition offers from larger firms and decided to transfer their shares to an employee ownership trust.

The Legal Services Board has granted permission for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants to formally pull out of probate regulation, having refused it in January.

The unregulated sector may account for up to 9% of the total market for individuals’ legal needs and up to 39% for small businesses, Legal Services Board research has indicated.

The rules against discrimination and harassment by barristers need to be strengthened by removing the requirement that the actions be unlawful, two QCs have argued.

Leading alternative legal services provider Axiom Law has moved into regulated services for the first time after being granted an ABS licence in the US state of Arizona.

County court judges would benefit from “more authoritative guidance” from the higher courts on whether unqualified solicitor’s agents have rights of audience, a circuit judge has said.

A charity law specialist who allowed two charitable trusts to use his firm’s client account as a banking facility has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Regulators must take action to ensure that lawyers are not operating with “out-of-date” skills or knowledge, the Legal Services Board has said.

The Financial Conduct Authority is going ahead with a tougher version of a ban on ‘phoenixing’ by financial services claims management companies, which will come into force next month.

The LSB has expressed “very significant concerns” about the professional ethics of in-house and commercial lawyers in the wake of a series of incidents which raised “difficult ethical questions”.

A very senior criminal law QC has been suspended for a year over a decision not to disclose surveillance evidence which ultimately led to a conviction being overturned on appeal.