Solicitors

The former chair of the Law Society’s land law and conveyancing committee, who was struck off last summer, has helped his wife set up an unregulated law firm, it has emerged. Richard Barnett, former senior partner of Southport firm Barnetts, is a consultant at Legal Heroes.

Legal privilege could cause in-house lawyers a major problem if the Financial Conduct Authority does bring them within its new accountability regime for senior managers, they have been warned.

A solicitor involved in the 2011 litigation between Russian oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich has been fined £50,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for entering into what was then an unlawful contingency fee agreement, under which he would have netted tens of millions of pounds had Mr Berezovsky succeeded.

A law firm owner did not mislead the Solicitors Regulation Authority over the financial difficulties his practice was facing, even though he was reliant on loans from a senior solicitor to keep it afloat, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled.

The Financial Conduct Authority is to consult on whether general counsel and other in-house lawyers in banks, building societies and credit unions fall within its new accountability regime for senior managers. The FCA said some general counsel were concerned about being forced to disclose privileged information.

A solicitor who described her behaviour as “immature, foolish and wrong” in lying to a potential employer has been suspended by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. She upgraded her law degree from 2:2 to 2:1 in order to get an interview with the Army Legal Services.

A solicitor who was unaware of what he should do after he failed to secure professional indemnity insurance has agreed to remove himself from the profession. Despite similar cases having gone to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal of late, he reached a regulatory settlement agreement with the SRA.

It would be wrong to assume that it is “inherently more improbable” that a professional person will be dishonest than anyone else, the High Court has said. In his ruling, HHJ Saffman said the sole practitioner involved had misrepresented “the true position” in an attendance note.

Judges should be able to opt out of assessing advocates under the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates if they believe it would be unfair, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. Despite a Supreme Court ruling in its favour last year, QASA is still to get off the ground.

A sole practitioner who made a “conscious choice to prop up her practice with client funds” has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Harvinder McKibbin told the tribunal that “as a true sole practitioner, matters had become a bit too much being on my own with no support”.

An extraordinary war of words between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) stepped up yesterday after the regulator was accused of “seemingly seeking to undermine” Chancery Lane. The society said comments by the SRA’s leadership this week were “perhaps… an indication of the lack of value our regulator places on our profession”.

Three solicitors from East London have been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for failing to secure or check that indemnity insurance was in place for their firm, and continuing to accept new clients when they should have been closing it down.

The Law Society’s share of the Practising Certificate fee should be repaid to solicitors if the Solicitors Regulation Authority becomes fully independent, the regulator’s chief executive has said. Paul Philip said the society’s share was around £35m or £250 for each solicitor.

Claimant and defendant personal injury interests have clashed over this week’s report of the government-commissioned Insurance Fraud Taskforce – while the Solicitors Regulation Authority has welcomed the call for its fining powers to be increased and the burden of proof before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal lowered.

The government should consider strengthening the fining powers of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and lowering the burden of proof in cases that reach the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal as part of the reforms needed to combat insurance fraud, a major report has recommended.