Compliance & Regulation

There has been a strong reaction to the suspended prison sentence for disgraced solicitor Phil Shiner, with the shadow Lord Chancellor saying “it is an insult to British veterans that he is not behind bars”.

An Essex law firm at the centre of a BBC investigation into possible abuse of LPAs has described it as “inaccurate” and “based on second or third-hand hearsay”.

The Bar Council has condemned former Criminal Bar Association chair Navjot ‘Jo’ Sidhu KC after a disciplinary tribunal found serious professional misconduct of a sexual nature.

A partner who was a beneficiary of a will he drafted, without advising his client to take independent legal advice, has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Barrister apprenticeships are set to become a reality after their approval by the Bar Standards Board and Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has again seen its costs slashed after the contested part of its prosecution of a solicitor failed.

Lawyers take a defensive or confrontational approach to complaints “as standard, showing no empathy or understanding of clients’ experience”, the Legal Ombudsman has said.

The Legal Services Board has proposed a 14% hike in its budget as it looks to strengthen direct oversight of the frontline regulators, which may include active monitoring of the SRA.

A personal injury fee-earner lied about injuries she suffered in three car accidents, as well as about her academics and professional status, a circuit judge has ruled.

A veteran solicitor who falsified a client’s signature on a notice of severance as part of divorce proceedings after losing the original has been struck off.

The SRA was “not justified” in alleging that a solicitor convicted of drink-driving concealed the extent of her wrongdoing to her firm, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled.

An SRA adjudicator was wrong to rebuke a solicitor for supposedly trying to prevent a client from reporting him to the regulator and Legal Ombudsman, the SDT has held.

Public confidence in barristers is high, but lower among those from minority backgrounds, especially when it comes to perceptions of whether they treat everyone fairly.

It is “unlikely” that the SRA would take regulatory action against a solicitor who refuses to work on fossil fuel matters for reasons of conscience, counsel’s opinion has declared.

A “manifestly incompetent” law firm owner who made false claims to the Legal Aid Agency and kept her firm’s accounts in a state of chaos has been struck off.