Businesses line up to be regulated by Bar Standards Board
Sixteen businesses have so far completed their applications to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board, it has emerged. The barristers’ regulator will issue its first licences next month.
Draft surveillance codes prompt call for statutory protection of privilege
Safeguards proposed by the government to protect legal professional privilege from sweeping state surveillance powers are inadequate and lawyers’ communications should be explicitly protected by legislation, the Law Society has urged.
Profits soar at National Accident Helpline as it aims beyond personal injury
Legal lead generator National Accident Helpline today unveiled strong results for its first year as an AIM-listed business and indicated that it will continue to move beyond its core of personal injury to other areas of consumer law.
Barristers’ regulator lobbies for QC re-accreditation
The Bar Standards Board has issued a formal request to Queen’s Counsel Appointments – the body which runs the annual silk round – to consider developing a system of re-accrediting criminal QCs as “it is not in the public interest to exempt QCs from quality assurance”.
Reports of bogus law firms hit new high
More than 700 reports of bogus law firms were made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2014, an annual increase of over 25%, its latest risk update has revealed.
Regulation round-up: consumers to have 12 months to complain to LeO, plus SRA, LSB and IPS news
The six-month time limit for clients to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is to be doubled from this summer, it has announced. The new time limit, which takes effect from 9 July, runs from the date of receiving a final response from the lawyer.
SRA warns litigators not to become “hired guns”
Litigation solicitors were today warned by their regulator not to prioritise the client’s interest over their other duties, stressing that they are not “hired guns”. Balancing conflicting pressures in litigation was an occupational hazard for solicitors.
Law firm welcomes jailing of former partner who stole from probate clients
A Herefordshire law firm has welcomed a two-year jail sentence imposed on a former partner who tried to cover up her theft of £50,000 from probate matters by placing fake letters and copy cheques on their files, and making false entries in client ledgers.
Escape for Olswang as High Court punishes naming error
The High Court has allowed media law firm Olswang to escape being named as a defendant in a $400m (£267m) claim relating to work completed before the partnership converted to LLP status when it upheld a refusal to correct a mistake in naming it as a party.
Paralegal hopes to be first solicitor admitted through ‘equivalent means’ route
Paralegal Shaun Lawler has said he hopes to be the first solicitor admitted to the profession through the ‘equivalent means’ route rather a traditional training contract.
