Solicitors

Alternative business structures will make solicitors’ firms “more competitive, more accessible and more efficient”, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly claimed today as the Solicitors Regulation Authority opened its doors to the first ABS applications.

Our round-up of other significant news stories includes a law firm using its new PI advertising campaign to highlight its opposition to the Jackson reforms, and the Law Society/SRA moving into swish new Birmingham offices.

The Legal Services Board has activated statutory powers that require the Law Society to provide monthly reports on whether it is complying with rules that are meant to ensure the independence of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Legal Ombudsman has warned “phoenix” law firms that seek to avoid the consequences of their actions by closing down and reopening – and even changing regulators – that it can still pursue them for past complaints.

Some solicitors are putting barristers under “increasing pressure” to enter into referral fee arrangements, while others are trying to take “improper advantage” of advocates by abusing the ‘one case, one fee’ rules in criminal work, the Bar Council has complained.

The continuing tension between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority has been exposed by the revelation that the society brought in PwC to help improve “collaborative working” between the two – but that the SRA has rejected some of the accountants’ recommendations.

The Legal Ombudsman has successfully fought off two judicial reviews against its decisions, with a further five currently going through the court process, Legal Futures can reveal. The SRA has also fought off the two JRs of its new qualified lawyer transfer scheme.

Our regular round-up includes reports that Admiral is considering becoming an ABS, the SRA starting work on the referral fee ban, Labour’s latest LASPO amendments, the Information Commissioner mulling powers to force law firm audits, and a warning over getting involved in land-banking.

“Unthinking reliance” on the indicative behaviours in the Code of Conduct is not a risk-free approach to compliance, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned. Larger firms should also not appoint their senior or managing partners to the role of compliance office for legal practice.

Mortgage lenders need to agree a system that allows them collectively to vet law firms that want to be on conveyancing panels, the head of mortgage fraud at Lloyds Banking Group said yesterday.

Decisions taken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under outcomes-focused regulation need to be urgently monitored to ensure they are fair to ethnic minority lawyers, an internal report has said. The SRA has also provided an update on its online renewal system.

The Law Society has urged the government to reconsider a decision not to intervene in a European case that Chancery Lane claims opens up a new front in the battle over for whether companies can claim legal professional privilege for dealings with their in-house lawyers.

A former partner of London law firm Mishcon de Reya was yesterday convicted of forgery and two fraud offences aimed at conning a bank out of €22m. Kevin James Steele, 51 of Kent, will be sentenced on 9 January 2012.

The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped charges against 11 solicitors and doctors who were accused of a £4m referral fee fraud involving after-the-event legal expenses insurance. The lawyers may instead be referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The third-party litigation funding market received another boost yesterday after a funder raised a new tranche of money to put into cases. However, the SRA has told Legal Futures that solicitors are not under a requirement to choose funders that comply with the new voluntary code of conduct.