Solicitors

A future where would-be criminal law barristers train together with solicitors and work at law firms before joining a “smaller, specialist Bar” later in their careers was sketched out yesterday in the government-commissioned review of criminal advocacy.

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has suggested that conveyancers, rather than clients, should answer to HMRC when stamp duty payments fail to arrive.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has unveiled plans to remove the requirement that firms have their client accounts reviewed by an independent accountant and submit an annual accountant’s report.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has called for the minimum level of indemnity cover firms must obtain to be cut to £500,000. The existing limits are £2m for traditional partnerships, or £3m for incorporated practices.

Non-reserved legal activities within multi-disciplinary alternative business structures should be taken out of regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, it proposed yesterday.

Another unrated indemnity insurer is “likely to be put into liquidation”, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned. The news comes as the SRA announced that it will not introduce a ban on unrated insurers.

Sole practices are responsible for 45% of the latest claims made on the solicitors’ compensation fund, despite making up only around a third of firms at the time, research for the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found.

The number of practicing and non-practicing solicitors has fallen – for the first time in more than 20 years. Meanwhile, the decline in the number of law firms continued, according to new Law Society statistics.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has signalled a fresh approach to its work, with a focus on simplifying the requirements it imposes and ensuring they are proportionate.

Control over the appointment of the next chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority was taken away from the Law Society yesterday after the Legal Services Board introduced new rules governing the process.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is pushing ahead with its plans to deregulate the training of solicitors, despite objections from their professional body. They include scrapping the prescribed form of the training contract.

A Lancashire solicitor has been struck off after misusing more than £400,000 of client monies to prop up her ailing firm. Kimberley Bridge was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal this week for nine counts of dishonesty.

The timetable for advocates to register for the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates has been thrown into chaos as a result of the continuing judicial review of its legality. Meanwhile, the Bar Standards Board has begun the search for a new chair.

Plans to simplify the approval process for non-lawyer owners of alternative business structures are being considered by the Legal Services Board, it has emerged. Private equity purchasers are proving particularly tricky under the current regime.

The introduction of relationship management – giving certain law firms a dedicated contact at the Solicitors Regulation Authority – is working for both sides, new research has indicated. However, a fifth of firms consider complying with OFR is too expensive.