Competence

Solicitors are not under a general duty to check the credit status of parties in a commercial transaction unless instructed to, the High Court has ruled. Who to trust in a business situation is “a commercial decision for the client to take and not the solicitor”.

The Law Society has called on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) not to abandon the training contract, which it is said was viewed by other jurisdictions as the “gold standard”.

The Supreme Court has backed a law firm’s arguments that, following a breach of trust, it should have to pay in damages only the amount which the lender would have lost if the breach had not occurred.

Professor Avrom Sherr, one of the country’s leading legal academics, has said that “nobody listens to the Law Society” since it lost its regulatory role.

Legal education providers have warned that the possible introduction of a new, centralised assessment test for all would-be solicitors by the Solicitors Regulation Authority could be “a step back”.

East Midlands firm Nelsons has launched Fusion Legal, a new regional support network, following West Midlands firm FBC Manby Bowdler, which launched Hub.Legal this summer.

A fifth of law firms admit to providing a substandard service at some point in the past year, with extra training for staff the common response, Solicitors Regulation Authority research has revealed.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) and ILEX Professional Standards (IPS) are contacting research organisations to prepare the way for an independent review of advocacy in the youth courts.

The High Court has rejected a bid to force a law firm to disclose the identity of a former client who revealed confidential information in an anonymous blog.

The Law Society has teamed up with software company Mastek UK Limited to deliver its conveyancing portal, which aims to speed up the home-buying process. The pair have set up a joint venture company called Legal Practice Technologies Ltd.

Almost a fifth of firms have reported “failures in competent legal service delivery” in the last 12 months, a major study for the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found.

The Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that Yorkshire law firm Raleys was negligent in its handling of a claim under the government compensation scheme for ex-miners suffering from vibration white finger.

Solicitors must not exploit clients’ lack of knowledge about wills for their own advantage, the SRA has warned. In a newly issued guidance note, the regulator said clients should not be led to believe that appointing a solicitor as executor was “essential or indeed the norm”.

The major quality marks used in the profession are becoming more credible, but many still have “a long way to go” before consumers can use them with confidence, a new assessment has concluded.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a ruling which excused from liability a law firm which was duped into releasing £150,000 of mortgage funds. It found that the failings of the firm involved in departing from usual conveyancing practice were unreasonable.