Solicitors

The decision by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to close its meetings to public and press scrutiny appears to be contrary to its obligations under the Legal Services Act 2007, a leading regulatory solicitor has said. He argued that the SRA is now facing a “crucial credibility test”.

Plans to force lawyers to be more transparent about their fees and complaints records could first be piloted across areas of work that have different regulators. The Solicitors Regulation Authority could also widen its plan for an online register of solicitors’ regulatory data to encompass all regulated lawyers.

Research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to support its plans to reform indemnity insurance has “clear limitations”, ignoring the recent increase in claims related to cybercrime among other failures, the Law Society has claimed as it geared up for the next round of its battle with the regulator over the reforms.

A vastly experienced solicitor who took over £1.2m from client account in just two months to fund an online gambling habit has been struck off, despite the money being paid back and his claim that personal difficulties mean he had been in a “kamikaze” state of mind and “pushed the ‘sod it’ button”.

A lack of integrity on the part of a solicitor is “not synonymous” with dishonesty and is subject to a less stringent legal test, the High Court has ruled. Mr Justice Morris also said that it was wrong to define lack of integrity as requiring recklessness.

Complaints about the work of solicitors handling immigration appeals have finally reached the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which has fined a solicitor £10,000 for acting recklessly by signing judicial review claim forms with inaccurate grounds of appeal and failing to supervise an employee who drafted the applications.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched an investigation into a law firm accused by the senior immigration judge of weakening the rule of law through its “cavalier and unprofessional” approach in acting for the Rochdale grooming gang.

The vast majority of family law firms are offering alternative ways to pay legal fees post-LASPO – such as unbundling and monthly payment plans – and more than eight out of 10 clients were able to find the money themselves rather than rely on friends and family, a survey has revealed.

A criminal defence solicitor who used his law firm’s accounts to lie about his income to HM Revenue & Customs and steal more than £60,000 in a tax fraud, has been jailed for 18 months. Meanwhile, two barristers have been disbarred after separate criminal convictions, one involving supplying cocaine.

Both the Legal Services Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority are putting too much emphasis on promoting competition at the expense of the other regulatory objectives they are meant to uphold, the Law Society has claimed. But the SRA has said its plan to allow practising solicitors to operate from unregulated businesses is “overdue”.

The head of a council’s child protection legal team has successfully removed all the conditions on his practising certificate imposed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the wake of a finding against him by a disciplinary tribunal.

Leading legal aid law firm Duncan Lewis has been sanctioned for breaching the rule that prohibits paying referral fees for legally aided clients. The rebuke and £2,000 fine is the most that the Solicitors Regulation Authority can do without referring the firm to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Law firms must comply with data requests even if the purpose for seeking the documents is assisting in litigation, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Overturning the High Court, Lady Justice Arden held that a data request was not invalid if made for the “collateral purpose of assisting in litigation”.

The solicitor convicted of transferring criminal property after being taken in by a charismatic conman posing as the Pope’s banker was naïve but not dishonest, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has said in explaining why it considered a £2,000 fine sufficient penalty for her misconduct.

The Legal Services Board has stepped up the pressure on the Law Society’s role as the approved regulator of solicitors by announcing a formal investigation into whether the Solicitors Regulation Authority has sufficient independence.