Solicitors

The Bar Standards Board has pledged to continue with preparations for the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates notwithstanding the judicial review against the scheme launched last week. Meanwhile, it has been criticised for its “mean” position over the costs of the JR.

The number of solicitors found to be dishonest and struck off rose in the past year, even though there has been a sharp fall in the number of applications made to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, according to its annual report.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rejected potential alternative business structures on the basis that the aim was really to continue illegal referral fee arrangements, it emerged this week.

Not knowing what to expect when using a lawyer is the key problem faced by many consumers, research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found. The SRA, with other legal regulators, is set to tackle this in part through a new consumer-facing website, called Legal Choices.

The Law Society’s bid to regain responsibility for much of the regulation of solicitors has “inadvertently” made the case for completely independent regulation, a leading figure at the Solicitors Regulation Authority has claimed.

A long-awaited judicial review of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) has been launched by criminal law barristers against the Legal Services Board (LSB).

Samantha Barrass, who has led the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s work on licensing alternative business structures, is leaving to become chief executive of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has closed down an east London law firm less than a month after the High Court questioned its fitness to practise. The SRA intervened into the practice of Benny Thomas and Syed Tanweer Akhtar at Consilium Chambers LLP.

The Law Society should regain control over training, authorisation to practise and standard setting – reabsorbing a significant proportion of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the process – solicitors’ professional body has argued.

The Legal Services Board has urged the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority to “actively look for savings opportunities” after the society’s budget increased by £11.5m for the next year. It also criticised a lack of consultation with fee payers over what they will have to pay.

It is time for truly independent regulation of the solicitors’ profession to stop attempts by the Law Society to interfere, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has told the government. It also reiterated a call for all legal activities to be brought within the scope of regulation.

It’s the hottest summer since the end of the Ice Age and the cold dark misery of winter seems a long way off. Try, if you can, to cast you mind forward to January 2014. A depressing month at any time, we can rely on the SRA to make January just that little bit less endurable – last January it was the COLP and COFA regime, next year it’s diversity monitoring.

The incoming Lord Chief Justice has asked the Solicitors Regulation Authority to consider a law firm’s continuing fitness to practise having found its senior partner in contempt of court.

There are signs of the Solicitors Regulation Authority relaxing its strict interpretation of a key rule which may be “dampening” innovation and new entrants to the market, according to the Legal Services Board.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to establish a new expert panel that would be called in to help avoid formal intervention into failing law firms – dubbed ‘intervention lite’ – a specialist solicitor has claimed.