Solicitors

Robert Houchill, a senior paralegal at London law firm Bates Wells Braithwaite, has become the first solicitor to qualify through the ‘equivalent means’ route. He said the new route would give law graduates more flexibility in funding the legal practice course.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned law firms against misleading publicity as the government’s ban on the use of inducements by personal injury solicitors came into force yesterday.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has said that over 200 law firms of all sizes have opted into its new ‘continuing competence’ regime. From 1 April firms have been able to leave behind the old hours-based continuing professional development system.

There has been a massive increase in the number of lawyers disciplined by their professional bodies for breaking the rules on money laundering, a Treasury report has found.

Jenner & Block has not become the first US law firm licensed as an alternative business structure, it has emerged – rather it was an error by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Plus, call for QC to be open for all, and new members of LeO’s board.

The High Court has upheld a decision by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) to strike off solicitor Timothy Schools, but said that evidence about the state of his health should not have been rejected.

A report for the Bar Council on the future of criminal justice and advocacy has recommended that legal executives are kept out of the Crown Courts, while solicitors should only be granted rights of audience if they have undergone the same level of training as barristers.

The legal community has mixed feelings about the ‘equivalent means’ route to qualification as a solicitor, with even those who like the idea fearing the consquences of greater competition and consequently lower wages, according to a survey.

The government has reduced the scope of regulation for law firms involved in consumer credit work, such as debt collection. It has also increased the ability of firms to offer payment by instalments.

A former solicitor and non-practising barrister who was convicted of a string of offences – including assaulting two police officers and defrauding the Law Society of £23,000 while a member of its council – has been disbarred two months after she was struck off the roll of solicitors.

A criminal appeals charity run by lawyers has applied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to be a regulated legal practice, and could become the first charity to become a traditional law firm in its own right.

A solicitor who took advantage of a former client has been given a record £305,000 fine by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, more than six times the previous highest amount.

More than 700 reports of bogus law firms were made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2014, an annual increase of over 25%, its latest risk update has revealed.

The six-month time limit for clients to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is to be doubled from this summer, it has announced. The new time limit, which takes effect from 9 July, runs from the date of receiving a final response from the lawyer.

Litigation solicitors were today warned by their regulator not to prioritise the client’s interest over their other duties, stressing that they are not “hired guns”. Balancing conflicting pressures in litigation was an occupational hazard for solicitors.