Regulation

The Legal Services Board is set to begin work on a a review of continuing competence that will revisit the possibility of formal periodic reaccreditation for lawyers.

The former head of operations at well-known media law firm Schillings has been banned from working for solicitors after reselling the firm’s used mobile phones and pocketing the proceeds.

Concerns over the decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to move from the criminal to the civil standard of proof are “misplaced”, the tribunal’s president has said.

Scottish law firms should be allowed to accept external investment, while the title of ‘lawyer’ should be protected, the Scottish government has indicated.

The Legal Services Board has approved Bar Standards Board plans which will require public access barristers, but not other self-employed barristers, to publish fees for routine legal services on their websites.

A former senior partner who plundered £2m from his firm’s client accounts as well as both private and charitable trusts after falling victim to a lottery scam has been thrown out of the profession.

The Financial Conduct Authority is to explore whether to use its power to cap the fees charged by personal injury claims management companies, it has emerged.

An unregulated version of a ‘dispersed’ or ‘virtual’ law firm has been granted a waiver by the SRA so that its solicitors can practise under their professional titles, Legal Futures can reveal.

There are powerful reasons why the SRA and Law Society could reverse their positions respectively in favour of and against reform of professional indemnity insurance, it has been claimed.

The chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has set out plans for its board to work in an open and “accountable” way – but its board meetings remain closed to outside scrutiny.