Regulation

The Bar Standards Board is struggling to cope with the rise in complaints from members of the public, missing its performance target by a big distance, its annual enforcement report has revealed.

A law firm should not have refused to hand over £330,000 from the sale of a house in South London for nearly four years despite having “reasonable grounds for suspicion” over the seller’s identity.

A network for freelance solicitors that is “ready to launch immediately” cannot get off the ground because it cannot secure professional indemnity insurance, it has emerged.

A trainee solicitor who admitted multiple offences, including rape, committed in quick succession against two women in July 2019 was jailed last week for 14 years.

A partner who admitted acting recklessly in failing to warn investor clients about the risks involved in off-plan property development schemes has been fined £17,500 by a disciplinary tribunal.

Reforms to the regulation of legal services proposed by an independent review would lead to a “massively uncertain and costly system”, the president of the Law Society has said.

An experienced solicitor has been fined £20,000 for misconduct after being duped into accepting that a woman was who she said she was because he did not require documentary proof.

A campaigner who used her email address as a committee member of the Solicitors International Human Rights Group to conduct unlawful immigration law work was convicted this week.

A “disgraceful” solicitor disappeared with over £415,000 of client money and apparently went travelling to Malaysia, warning his trainee solicitor that “there are going to be some angry clients”.

A barrister working as a trade union’s in-house lawyer is considering a claim for false imprisonment against the Metropolitan Police after he was briefly arrested on a picket line.

A solicitor who acted where there was a real conflict of interest and paid out almost £6m from buyer clients before they had obtained any security in the flats they were hoping to buy, has been fined.

Law firms assume – wrongly – that their professional indemnity insurance covers them if they are investigated or prosecuted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, research has warned.

A solicitor who was duped into employing a bogus solicitor, who then facilitated a £1.2m conveyancing fraud, has been struck off. The fee-earner stole the identity of a genuine solicitor.

Alan Blacker, also known as Lord Harley and one of the most talked-about solicitors of recent years, has today received a suspended prison sentence for benefit fraud.

A solicitor who used £80,000 of client money to refurbish her offices – and paid out another £165,000 of client money after falling victim to two email scams – has been struck off.