Solicitors

A large north of England debt collection agency has launched an alternative business structure to bring work in-house after commercial clients demanded a “seamless cradle to grave service”. The aim is “to continue the service that we already supply but do it from our internal resources rather than through partnerships with law firms”.

The Law Society has hit out at the latest raft of reforms proposed yesterday by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and particularly the idea of granting ‘freelance’ solicitors the ability to deliver reserved legal services without being either a registered sole practitioner or part of a law firm.

Solicitors will be able to set up their own law firms as soon as they qualify – rather than have to wait three years as now – under the latest wave of changes to the SRA Handbook proposed by the regulator today. It also proposes to allow freelance solicitors to offer reserved legal activities and an 11-year period after the SQE comes into being to finish qualifying under the current regime.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is planning to extend its plans to force law firms to publish prices from conveyancing, private client and divorce work, to personal injury, employment and motoring offences, it revealed today.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal yesterday published its 214-page ruling in the Leigh Day case, meaning the Solicitors Regulation Authority now has to decide whether to appeal. The ruling also details for the first time the disagreement among the three tribunal panel members – an extremely rare occurrence.

The Law Society has settled the case that saw the Competition Appeal Tribunal rule that that it abused a dominant position, Legal Futures can reveal. The details of the agreement on damages and costs are confidential, which was criticised by the successful claimant, who also questioned the society’s behaviour throughout the matter.

Claims management companies will have to be authorised afresh by the Financial Conduct Authority before they can operate under the new regime, it has emerged. The FCA would set the bar higher when authorising CMCs than it had been set 10 years ago when the MoJ started regulating them, the current regulator said.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service has delayed the start of the flexible operating hours pilot until next February, its chief executive announced today. Susan Acland-Hood also made it clear that she was listening to the concerns raised by the legal profession about both the current problems with listing and how flexible hours might work.

The boss of a claims management company specialising in holiday sickness has accused solicitors of failing to vet cases for cold calling and fraud and “living in a world of denial”. Richard Conroy, a food scientist and founder of sickholiday.com, told solicitors: “You can do a far better job of vetting the cases coming to you.”

A solicitor jailed for the attempted murder of his wife while suffering from severe depression has been handed an indefinite suspension by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal due to the “wholly exceptional” circumstances of his case. Normally such an offence would lead to a strike-off.

London and Manchester firm Neumans – which was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority following a referral by the Court of Appeal – has gone into administration. It comes just a few weeks after the firm lost its bid to overturn the intervention.

The first sign of action to implement governance reform has emerged from the Law Society, which is recruiting a non-executive chair for its new main board. The reforms process has largely been carried out behind closed doors for over a year, but some details have crept out in the job description for the new role, which will pay £42,800 a year for two days a week.

Enid Rowlands has been reappointed as chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s board for one more year as it begins recruiting three new members. Ms Rowlands, who became the regulator’s first lay chair in 2015, will now continue until December 2018. Her reappointment was confirmed by an independent panel.

The government yesterday rejected attempts by peers to ban cold-calling by claims management companies, and also bring medical reporting organisations and credit hire companies within the regulatory scope of the Financial Conduct Authority.

The row between Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Law Society over the former’s plan to allow solicitors to practise from unregulated firms has stepped up a notch, with the SRA saying “it is hardly surprising that those who are already operating in the legal market are against increasing competition”.