Compliance & Regulation

A heavyweight City solicitor and leading Welsh in-house lawyer have been named as new members of what is now the smallest-ever board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

An ex-solicitor who accused the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal of Islamophobia for not having Muslim panel members when striking him off in 2019 has failed in his application to be restored to the roll.

An alternative business structure specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration and led by barristers has opted for regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A high-profile solicitor has been jailed for contempt of court after defying two court orders to hand over her practice’s files to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A solicitor at Capsticks, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s external lawyers, has been struck off for lying to a client and the firm about progress on a file.

A former in-house solicitor at NatWest has been struck off for child pornography convictions after he was found by police with 15,000 indecent images and videos.

A member of CILEX has been permanently excluded from the institute following her convictions for fraud and providing unqualified immigration advice.

The pass rate for legal practice course students was virtually unchanged for the academic year ending in the summer of 2020 despite the pandemic, new figures have shown.

Mishcon De Reya – the leading London firm heading for a stock market listing this year – has agreed to pay a fine of £232,500 over multiple breaches of anti-money laundering rules.

The Bar Standards Board lacks access to “sufficient capability, capacity and resources”, the Legal Services Board said yesterday in its annual review of all the legal regulators’ performance.

The Law Society of Scotland has been authorised to regulate licensed legal services providers, the equivalent of ABSs, more than 10 years after the law allowing for them came into force.

The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service has gone a step further in toughening up its sanctions guidance for barristers found to have been involved in sexual misconduct and discrimination.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel is “uncertain” whether radical measures being considered by the Legal Ombudsman to cut its backlog of complaints will deliver sufficient change.

A solicitor who had a “misplaced belief” in the honesty and integrity of another solicitor jailed for fraud has been fined £30,000 over multiple rule breaches that resulted.

The Bar Council has expressed scepticism over a sharp planned rise in the BSB’s budget for the coming financial year, which would amount to a 9% increase in the cost of practising.