Compliance & Regulation

CILEX has introduced the first formal recognition of paralegals after receiving Privy Council approval to amend its Royal Charter and introduce the title of CILEX chartered paralegal.

A former Eversheds Sutherland employee who created invoices for a pro bono matter he brought to the firm has been banned from the profession.

A “significant and sustained increase” in the number of reports about solicitor misconduct is fuelling the SRA’s plans for an £11m increase in its budget to £168m.

The Bar Standards Board is not improving its performance with “sufficient urgency or pace”, the oversight regulator has concluded.

The High Court has ordered that a barrister and the solicitors who instructed her be referred to their regulators after providing five fake case citations in their pleadings.

The collapses of SSB Law and Axiom Ince indicate a continuing need for the Legal Services Board despite the government’s focus on cutting red tape, the Lord Chancellor said last week.

A solicitor who emailed an opposing litigant after they instructed lawyers and made baseless threats of perjury against them has been rebuked.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has rejected an appeal by a solicitor against a fine of £7,500 imposed on him by an SRA adjudication panel, describing it as having no merit.

A long-serving property solicitor who defrauded a Hereford law firm out of £160,000 by diverting disbursement payments into her own bank account has been jailed for 30 months.

It was “clearly inappropriate” for a Bar disciplinary tribunal to suspend a barrister who lied to a direct access client over papers that were accidentally destroyed by his chambers.

A law firm owner who failed to pay a wasted costs order as well as four fines imposed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been suspended for six months.

There is “growing evidence” that unregulated immigration lawyers are abusing the system, the government has claimed in unveiling beefed-up powers for the Immigration Advice Authority.

SSB Law has been accused of employing “unethical tactics” to retain clients who wanted to drop their cases and the Solicitors Regulation Authority condemned for its response.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has reprimanded a solicitor who did not comply with a direction from the Legal Ombudsman – but said it should not have reached the tribunal.

The structure of the Bar impedes the adoption of technology and innovation, but barristers need to do so to drive “a better and more efficient service for clients”, a BSB report has argued.