Compliance & Regulation

The number of students enrolling on Bar training courses has increased for the fourth year in a row, to 2,445, with pass rates varying a great deal depending on the course provider.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has rejected an argument from a solicitor made subject to a general civil restraint order that his “underlying motivation” was “noble”.

A barrister disbarred for sexual harassing a woman during a mini pupillage and, separately, two pupils at social events, has lost his appeal against the sanction.

The Bar Standards Board has given the Legal Services Board a series of voluntary undertakings about how it will improve its performance over the next three years.

Regulators have issued a warning to law firms and claims management companies about their conduct of motor finance claims ahead of tomorrow’s Supreme Court ruling.

LeO has decided against introducing a ‘polluter pays’ principle to penalise firms which repeatedly fail to deal with complaints properly – but wants to increase the case fee by 50%.

A solicitor struck off for using client money to prop up his firm has failed in his appeal to the High Court – and also in his effort to remain anonymous.

A solicitor who failed to undertake proper AML checks on a client who was a politically exposed person and also allowed him to use his firm’s client as a banking facility, has been fined.

A man convicted of rape has lost an appeal against conviction that was based partly on the fact that his solicitor was facing disciplinary action by the SRA at the time.

The LSB has made a series of relatively minor changes to its new statutory guidance on how legal regulators should implement the new regulatory objective to tackle economic crime.

A partner whose “head in the sand” approach meant a case spiralled out of control after he failed to serve points of dispute on a bill of costs in time has been struck off.

Solicitors Regulation Authority plans for new rules on how law firms handle complaints could lead to “overregulation”, the Law Society has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has fined a South-East London law firm £114,000 for anti-money laundering failures, one of the largest to date.

The former chair of CILEX – who has previously called for a radical shift in the way lawyers are regulated – is to take over as chair of the Bar Standards Board in September.

The Law Society has ratcheted up the pressure on the SRA over Axiom Ince by saying it is “not sufficiently assured” that the regulator is doing its job properly.