Competence

Specialisation in the legal profession has narrowed to the point where it is possible for a barrister to become a Queen’s Counsel without ever having cross-examined a witness, according to Mr Justice Rabinder Singh.

The defence protecting honest solicitors duped by mortgage fraudsters that was erected by the Court of Appeal last year has been reinforced by the High Court. A law firm can be relieved of consequential liability for a breach of trust if it acts honestly and reasonably.

Lawyers should offer ‘unbundled’ legal services to the public in order to improve access to the law – and also to compete with online document assembly services like Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom, the American Bar Association has said.

Transactional lawyers should be held accountable if their advice is used by clients for unlawful acts and strict conduct rules are necessary to police this rather than an outcomes-focused principle, law academics have argued.

The Court of Appeal has reversed a ruling that held a solicitors’ firm caught up in a mortgage fraud liable for the loss after being tricked by a bogus practice. The High Court had ruled that Davisons Solicitors in Birmingham had to repay £184,500 to the Nationwide Building Society.

Just over half of conveyancing firms have applied for accreditation under the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme, with those yet to do so unconvinced of the benefits, according to new research.

A City law firm is to license out to other practices a matter risk management system that has helped eliminate claims against the firm in recent times and saved around £600,000 a year in professional indemnity insurance premiums.

Our latest news round-up reports on a barrister jailed after stealing £72,500 from his chambers, more problems with the SRA’s online PC renewal system, surveys on fixed fees and compliance, and the appeal court upholding a ruling against a firm innocently caught up in mortgage fraud.

Conveyancers will soon be responsible for making commercial clients aware of capital allowances reports and should be careful not to be caught out or risk a negligence action, a tax expert has warned.

Solicitors who have a long-standing relationship with a client and receive many instructions are not under an implied general retainer to keep under review all previous advice and drafting, the High Court has ruled.

A new third-party litigation funder enters the market today promising to target far lower-value commercial disputes than other providers, and not take a percentage of damages as its fee – with a professional negligence expert warning that lawyers could face legal action for not considering their clients’ funding options.

QCs should lose their title if they fall below an acceptable standard, the Legal Services Consumer Panel suggested today in a report that calls on legal bodies that run voluntary quality schemes to improve checks on lawyers’ continuing competence so as to boost consumer confidence.

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.

Solicitors have no need to investigate an elderly person’s capacity to contract without good reason and any such duty on them would be “insulting and unnecessary”, a High Court judge has said. Mrs Justice Sharp said the claimant had failed to establish that a lack of capacity “would have been evident to a reasonably competent solicitor”.