Solicitors

Some 153 law firms today entered the last-chance saloon after failing to secure professional indemnity insurance (PII) during the last 30 days. Under the new PII arrangements, they are now in the second stage 60-day ‘cessation period’.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s recent guidance on the referral fee ban is “extremely unhelpful” and only aimed at extremes of behaviour, regulatory expert Andrew Hopper QC has argued.

he barristers seeking to have the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) declared unlawful have lost a bid to reduce their costs exposure. Mr Justice Bean refused to amend the protective costs order granted earlier this month by Mr Justice Ouseley.

Regional law firm Osborne Clarke has become the victim of a scam falsely telling clients that it has changed its bank account details, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned.

The number of alternative business structures (ABSs) licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority hit 200 yesterday, but the first ABS liquidation and first licence revocation have tempered any celebrations.

The Association of British Insurers has opened a new front in its ongoing battle with the Law Society by arguing that solicitors’ representative body should not automatically receive a cut of the practising certificate fee.

The Law Society has been granted permission to intervene in the judicial review of the legality of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). The society said it is intervening in the case “in the best interests of all advocates”.

Crispin Passmore, the director of strategy at the Legal Services Board, is jumping ship for a newly created director-level policy role at the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Legal Futures understands.

The number of law firms that failed to find professional indemnity insurance by 1 October has continued to climb, Legal Futures can report. It has also emerged that law firms are responding slowly to the next deadline facing them – practising certificate renewal by 31 October.

The ex-City lawyer chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has questioned the recruitment methods of City law firms in making university students decide to become commercial lawyers so early on in their legal careers.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has issued its first warning notice over the way personal injury firms are dealing with the referral fee ban. It highlights concerns that some solicitors are so busy ensuring they do not breach the ban that they are failing to consider their wider professional duties.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has begun a review of the role of compliance officers for finance and administration, less than a year since they took up their posts. Meanwhile, it has expressed concern about the lack of self-reporting by firms.

Would-be solicitors may be able to design their own routes to qualification – which need not involve a degree, legal practice course or training contract – under a blueprint for radical reform of education and training published today by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Bar Standards Board has become the first frontline regulator to map out how it will take forward the Legal Education & Training Review (LETR). Earlier this week the BSB and Solicitors Regulation Authority were criticised for not collaborating on taking forward the LETR.

The High Court has capped the costs exposure of the four barristers bringing a judicial review against the Legal Services Board over the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates – but at a level 10 times the one they had proposed.