Solicitors

A district judge has described how an immigration solicitor who continued to practice despite being suspended left behind her a “trail of destruction”.

Major law firms will soon “eschew the solicitor brand” in favour of conducting non-reserved legal business in the unregulated sector, the compliance officer at a top City firm has predicted.

William John Owen, a former coroner for Carmarthenshire, has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Mr Owen, 79, was jailed for theft in November last year for five years.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will focus more on individual regulation and less on firms in the year ahead, chief executive Paul Philip has said.

A firm set up by Mark Johnson, a solicitor and former partner at Geldards, is among the first dozen entities to be named today as regulated by the Bar Standards Board. He did it because of access to Bar Mutual indemnity insurance and the Bar’s “simpler and more transparent” rules.

Sir Michael Snyder, senior partner of top 20 accountants Kingston Smith, has welcomed a change of approach to multi-disciplinary practices at the Solicitors Regulation Authority after describing the “sheer hell” of the firm’s first attempt to become an alternative business structure.

Economic pressures forcing solicitors to ‘commoditise’ their advice “throw into sharp focus the need for standard form letters of advice to be clear in their exposition”, the Court of Appeal warned yesterday.

The leading specialist solicitor in regulation matters yesterday urged the Solicitors Regulation Authority not to approach law firms with the worst possible assumptions and warned it was driving a wedge between the regulator and the profession.

Plans to offer solicitors the option of a “third-party managed accounts” instead of the traditional client account have divided opinions, with some criticising a lack of detail and questioning whether the move would reduce fraud.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has urged solicitors to be extra vigilant after a north-east conveyancing firm became the latest victim of telephone bank scammers. The firm lost a significant amount from its account.

Nigel Harvie, the solicitor fined a record £305,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) last month, argued that he was motivated by a “desire to help”, it has emerged.

Solicitors will soon be able to ditch client accounts and instead use “third-party managed accounts”, their regulator has revealed. THe SRA said the use of such accounts may offer a lower-cost alternative that continues to provide appropriate protection.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority yesterday started an “open” debate about allowing solicitors to pay referral fees for legal aid and criminal work, saying the present ban acts as a barrier to consumer choice. The move is likely to be met with anger by the Bar Council.

The rule which requires the Solicitors Regulation Authority to approve the individuals who own companies that in turn own alternative business structures is set to be scrapped. The requirement for firms to keep a record of non-material breaches of the SRA Handbook may also go.

Almost a half of law firms using insurance brokers to secure their indemnity cover in last year’s renewal said brokers failed to reveal their commissions, a Law Society survey has revealed.