Compliance & Regulation

The Bar Standards Board’s new social media guidance “will do little to protect women’s voices an increasingly digitised world”, two leading female barristers have argued.

Two licensed conveyancers found guilty of widespread misconduct have been disqualified after a panel described theirs as “one of the most serious cases” it had ever heard.

A barrister who used information he had as a prosecutor to pursue a romantic interest in the defendant has been suspended from practice for 26 months.

A barrister who lied to a law firm about not having any unspent convictions when applying for a job and then working there has been disbarred.

The High Court has halved the 12-month suspension imposed on a barrister who recklessly misled the Court of Appeal because the tribunal failed to take proper account of mitigating factors.

A newly formed group of leading media lawyers has accused the Law Society of failing to represent its members’ interests in relation to SLAPPs.

A law firm which reduced its fees in an informal resolution of a client’s complaint brokered by the Legal Ombudsman could not later submit a higher revised bill.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority taking over the regulation of chartered legal executives risks confusing consumers, the Law Society has argued.

A solicitor who misappropriated £200,000 from the estates of clients and overcharged them by almost £200,000, has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A law firm that acted on both sides of a conveyancing transaction without obtaining consent from the buyer has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Lawyers should pay a levy of £150 each through their practising fees to fund social welfare law, and there should also be a £30 levy on county court cases, an event heard yesterday.

The Law Society has warned the Solicitors Regulation Authority not to ask the profession to stump up millions to boost its compensation fund without consulting first.

The regulator of chartered legal executives has rejected warnings from barristers of a “deskilled” advocacy profession with a “third and lower tier”, if it goes ahead with granting higher rights of audience.

Chambers need to have “mechanisms and guidance in place” to ensure their barristers are complying with UK sanctions, the Bar Standards Board has said.

The Legal Ombudsman has proposed a 7% increase, or £1.2m, in its budget to nearly £18m next year, with delays at the complaints-handling body set to continue for longer than anticipated.