Solicitors

The chairman of the Bar Council has called for a last stand against several “objectionable” elements of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates or else they will form part of similar schemes planned for all areas of legal practice.

The system for training lawyers is not fit for purpose, the Legal Education and Training Review research team has suggested. The team of academics floated a series of ideas that in some instances would represent radical reform of the present regime.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last week published its first ever guidance on sanctions, nearly 18 months after the High Court expressed its surprise that such a document did not exist.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has placed controls around the Parabis Group’s offshore operation in South Africa, it has emerged. Parabis received its alternative business structure licence yesterday.

There is broad support for an outcomes-focused approach to implementing the ban on referral fees in personal injury cases, according to early indications from the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultation on the issue.

The economic climate is exacerbating the focus consumers put on cost when choosing solicitors, early findings from Solicitors Regulation Authority research have indicated. However, there were also good signs for high street firms in the pull they have with their local communities.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has admitted defeat in its bid to introduce an online system for tens of thousands of solicitors who want to stay on the roll because it fears a repeat of last year’s PC renewal shambles.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has brought in an equality and race relations expert to look at whether there is any racial bias in the decisions it makes after research showed that BME solicitors continue to be disproportionately represented in its regulatory decisions.

Scrapping the ban on solicitors referring clients to tied financial advisers would “make them prey to every tied or multi-tied product salesperson in the land”, leading to massive claims on the compensation fund and negligence actions, the SRA has been warned.

Around 750 law firms have failed to meet the 31 July deadline for nominating their compliance officers, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has reported. More than 93% of firms have completed or nearly completed the process.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board have been warned to improve the way they regulate immigration practitioners or risk enforcement action by the Legal Services Board – including the ultimate sanction of losing their ability to regulate the area at all.

There is a “small but material rate of non-compliance” by solicitors with their complaints-handling requirements – and some bad attitudes towards complaints – confidential research by the Solictors Regulation Authority has found.

Wariness among individuals of becoming compliance officers – especially because of the risk of personal liability – has led to some firms nominating persons who lack the most relevant expertise, research seen exclusively by Legal Futures has found.

The government has changed its mind over scrapping more than two dozen money laundering offences that can penalise lawyers for minor rule breaches, but has emphasised that minor failures should not lead to prosecution.

Since the introduction of the SRA Handbook, firms have been asking whether they should introduce or improve a file review system. Corinne Staves, a senior associate at Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, considers the issues.