Solicitors

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has approved the standards for its new legal apprenticeships, allowing young people to qualify as solicitors, chartered legal executives, licensed conveyancers and paralegals through workplace-based training.

The Law Society’s freedom of information adjudicator has rejected a bid to open up public access to accountant’s reports submitted to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Law Society has chosen Catherine Dixon to replace Des Hudson as chief executive. Mr Hudson will retire at the end of this month.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to investigate the quality of legal advice provided to asylum seekers, in part because of concerns expressed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, it has emerged.

A solicitor who advised the Police Federation is set to be investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) amid allegations of police misconduct over the death of a man during a drugs search.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has extended by up to two months the time it can take to decide whether to approve a cut in the minimum indemnity limit for law firms.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has insisted that a lower minimum limit for indemnity insurance would “attract a discount in premiums” for law firms as it sought to counter widespread criticism of its plans.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has warned that cutting the minimum indemnity limit for law firms could force lenders into taking “fast and potentially drastic action”.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a warning to solicitors and barristers over the need to keep personal information secure, especially paper files, in the wake of “a number of data breaches” in recent months.

Rated insurers may be reluctant to offer law firms indemnity limits as low as the £500,000 proposed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), a leading insurance broker has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a call for evidence on its indemnity insurance reforms, as the Legal Services Board (LSB) continues its deliberations on whether or not to approve a cut in the minimum cover limit.

Solicitors believe the practising certificate (PC) fee is still too high, despite a cut of 17% approved by the Law Society council earlier this month, research has revealed.

Sole practitioners have warned of “dire consequences” if the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) goes ahead with its plans to cut the minimum limit for indemnity cover from £2m to £500,000.

A large majority of alternative business structures, 89%, would tackle their application differently if they applied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for a licence again, research has revealed.

The government has refused to be drawn into the row over controversial advice from the Law Society on Sharia-compliant wills, but insisted that it “does not, and cannot, change the law”.