Solicitors

The new chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to dial down its strident calls for complete structural independence from the Law Society. Anna Bradley was speaking six weeks into the job.

National firm Simpson Millar has set up a team within its professional negligence department to handle potential actions against solicitors who failed to warn leasehold clients of damaging clauses.

A solicitor has been fined £25,000 after receiving payments to help clear her debts from a client who viewed her as a “surrogate daughter”. She had “very foolishly” given the client her financial details.

A solicitor who tried to persuade the alleged victim of a sexual assault to withdraw her statement – and was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice as a result – has been struck off.

The government, legal regulators and others need to come together to ensure that the next generation of lawyers have the chance to study social welfare law or face even more ‘advice deserts’.

A solicitor has been struck off for taking money from a friend while he was a trainee and then suing her for more. It was accepted that the SRA principles applied to his conduct before he qualified.

A criminal law solicitor who described himself as “absolutely terrified” by a Court of Appeal appearance was incompetent but not dishonest, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has concluded.

A solicitor who paid himself £817,000 out of litigation funding schemes set up to back his law firm has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Some institutions teaching the legal practice course have recorded 100% pass rates, while others are under 50%, and a performance gap based on student ethnicity continues.

The High Court has rejected a solicitor’s appeal against a decision to ban him from working as a sole practitioner, after a tribunal found he had been “sloppy, lazy and careless”.