Solicitors

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to press ahead with plans to stop the annual exercise of checking whether non-practising solicitors want to stay on the roll, despite strong opposition from the Law Society.

In his first interview since taking over as chairman of the Legal Services Board, Sir Michael Pitt has cooled talk of a single regulator for all legal services. Sir Michael also praised the Solicitors Regulation Authority for its current programme of reform.

Lawyers who mislead the court will end up with “exemplary and deterrent” punishments, the Lord Chief Justice has warned. Lord Thomas was speaking after Alastair Brett, former legal manager at Times Newspapers, had limited success in appealing an SDT ruling.

Solicitors who bring “meritless” immigration judicial reviews could be referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) even on the first occasion, a High Court judge has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published its first decision fining a law firm for not closing down properly after failure to secure indemnity cover by the end of the extended policy period (EPP).

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has hit back at criticism from the Legal Services Board (LSB) over its plans to cut the minimum compulsory cover for law firms from £2m to £500,000.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is launching a crackdown on money laundering today, in conjunction with the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The Legal Services Board is to hire an external accountant to examine how the Law Society and other regulators spend money raised through compulsory practising certificate fees.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to review whether the requirement for small law firms to have compliance officers is “overkill”, it emerged today.

Richard Barnett, former chair of the Law Society’s land law and conveyancing committee, has called for an independent QC to investigate disciplinary allegations against him before his case reaches the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).

Richard Barnett, former chair of the Law Society’s land law and conveyancing committee, has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).

The Solicitors Regulation Authority expects its compensation fund to have to pay out up to £2.5m in the next practising year to cover the cost of negligence claims against uninsured law firms, it has emerged.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is investigating nine criminal law firms over failures in advice to asylum seekers, it has emerged. The Criminal Cases Review Commission submitted a confidential report to the regulator earlier this year after the convictions of 19 asylum seekers were overturned on appeal.

The Legal Services Board has been praised for extending the time limit for its decision on whether to approve plans to cut the minimum indemnity limit for law firms, which meant the Solicitors Regulation Authority was unable to implement it this year.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has committed to opening up its register of solicitors to comparison websites, while the Legal Ombudsman has today made its decisions available in a downloadable format.