Compliance & Regulation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has approved the sale of DLG Legal Services – the alternative business structure owned by insurer Direct Line – to Aviva.

Prices for basic legal services have increased by more than inflation in recent years, while law firms offering fixed costs are significantly cheaper than those giving estimates.

The SRA has decided not to take action over business secretary Jonathan Reynolds calling himself a solicitor – but warned him of possible prosecution should he do it again.

The Court of Appeal has rejected a solicitor’s challenge to judicial criticism of his “indefensible” conduct, motivated by money, in using leaked privileged material to help win an arbitration.

The evidence of unethical behaviour by barristers is “more limited and nuanced” than that relating to other lawyers, the Bar Council has said.

A Kent law firm has been fined nearly £64,000 for basic anti-money laundering control breaches over many years, one of the larger penalties handed out for the failures.

The Law Society has “paused” work on a material information form for conveyancers, after National Trading Standards withdrew it guidance on the issue last month.

A partner who told a junior colleague that he wanted to “dominate you sexually” has been suspended for two years – but his identity kept secret.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has expressed its frustration and “deep concern” over the “persistent failure” of lawyers to effectively deal with complaints from consumers.

A law firm that submitted identity evidence to the HM Land Registry which clearly did not stack up has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

An associate who deleted an email chain as part of a “deliberate and dishonest attempt on her part to shape the narrative” following a client complaint has avoided being struck off.

A solicitor whose firm acted for both sides in litigation over a debt, despite him being told of the obvious conflict, has been suspended for six months.

Judges have failed to acknowledge the “clear” problem of bullying and harassment among some on the bench, Baroness Harriet Harman told the Bar Council conference on Saturday.

The LSB should introduce an “overriding” ethical duty for lawyers, much like the overriding objective in civil procedure, the UCL Centre for Ethics and Law has argued.

The president of the King’s Bench Division today issued a stark warning to lawyers about the serious consequences they will face for misusing AI before the courts.