Solicitors

Law firms will be able to check the diversity data of similar practices from next month, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. This will give them confidence to improve their own diversity, the head of its equality committee said.

The Court of Appeal today comprehensively dismissed four criminal law barristers’ challenge to the Legal Services Board’s approval of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates. With the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, giving the lead judgment, the court found that the scheme is lawful.

Two partners of a former Yorkshire law firm have been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for their involvement in stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance schemes.

Firms that have not secured professional indemnity insurance have until tomorrow to notify the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Despite the abolition of the single indemnity renewal date last year, 1 October remained the deadline for more than 90% of law firms.

Leading Surrey firm Mundays has been rebuked and fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for using stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes which saved clients over £2.5m.

A former solicitor who stole almost £1m through stamp duty fraud has been sentenced to ten years in jail. Shameer Sacranie, 40, from Leicester is believed to have fled the country and was sentenced in his absence last week.

A former associate at leading Bristol firm Burges Salmon has been struck off for mishandling the estates of deceased clients. Russell Rollings was originally reported by the firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A solicitor has been jailed for practising despite being struck off nearly two years ago in what is thought to be the first time a court has imposed an immediate custodial sentence for such an offence.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has reined in its ambitions for massive internal powers to fine solicitors and ‘traditional’ law firms, applying to increase the current £2,000 limit to £10,000.

There has been a sharp fall in the number of solicitors struck off, suspended, fined or reprimanded by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, its annual report has shown. It also expressed concern about the growing number of private prosecutions.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has proposed scrapping the compulsory management course that all solicitors are required to undertake within three years of qualification.

Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to make it easier for multi-disciplinary practices to be licensed as alternative business structures will give the large accountancy firms a competitive advantage, the Law Society has claimed.

A fifth of law firms admit to providing a substandard service at some point in the past year, with extra training for staff the common response, Solicitors Regulation Authority research has revealed.

The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority today approved a series of measures to further its regulatory reform programme, including making it easier for multi-disciplinary practices to become alternative business structures.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority will not introduce specific rules to deal with the upcoming legislative ban on personal injury law firms paying inducements to claim, but has pledged to take “strong enforcement action” if firms breach it.