Solicitors

Some solicitors will now not be able to go online to renew their practising certificates until 2012, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed, amid the chaotic ongoing implementation of its £22m IT system. The deadline to activate mySRA accounts will also be extended.

The body representing licensed conveyancers has launched a quality assurance scheme uniquely linked to their regulator in a bid to help detect mortgage fraud. The move by the Society of Licensed Conveyancers goes significantly further than the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme.

New figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority indicate that the long-predicted wave of claims against solicitors over mortgage fraud is fast becoming a reality. There are now 770 open claims against the Solicitors Compensation Fund relating to mortgage fraud.

Changes to the personal injury landscape mean that claims management companies and others may step out of regulation altogether to run cases which commercial pressures may lead them to under-settle, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has warned.

A solicitor has for the first time been fined by the High Court for failing to co-operate with an investigation by the Legal Ombudsman. The High Court used the case to stress that such failures could also lead to immediate imprisonment.

The Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority have hammered out “a permanent resolution” of their long-running internal governance issues, the pair announced yesterday, ensuring regulation is independent from representation at Chancery Lane.

The proportion of black and minority ethnic solicitors (BME) named in complaints about conduct to the Solicitors Regulation Authority surged last year, the third year in which the figure has risen. BME solicitors comprised 27% of all conduct complaints.

Foreign law firms could choose to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under proposals put forward yesterday. An SRA green paper also suggests introducing a single “passport to practice” for firms with multiple overseas offices.

More than one in ten small law firms questioned in a massive survey of solicitors plan to close down or merge as a result of the cost of complying with regulatory obligations, Law Society research has revealed.

A law firm has escaped with a reprimand after being found by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to have breached professional practice rules in connection with intimidating letters sent to alleged Internet file sharers. It is the third firm to face SRA action over this.

The number of law firms being closed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has fallen to a four-year low, new figures have shown. But it has also received a record number of claims for compensation for mortgage fraud in the last quarter.

The ban on referral fees should not be limited to personal injury, a committee of MPs has said. It also called for the Information Commissioner to have the power to compel audits of law firms to check for breaches of the Data Protection Act.

Professional indemnity insurers will have to leave quotations open for at least five days and provide information about their credit ratings under plans being considered by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Voiding policies is also back on the agenda.

The government has set out how it intends to ban referral fees in personal injury, but has included a get-out if the payment is made “as consideration for the provision of services”. Its draft rules also allow the Lord Chancellor to ban referral fees in other areas of practice.

A record number of solicitors have been either struck off or suspended, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has revealed. However, the number of solicitors appearing before the tribunal has dropped sharply, possibly because of the SRA’s new powers to issue sanctions itself.