Solicitors

Approval of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam is not a foregone conclusion, the Legal Services Board is to make clear to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Issues such as quality and cost must be addressed.

Law schools are not taking advantage of the “enormous regulatory freedom” they have and instead are largely all offering the same kind of law degree, new research has found.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has lifted practising restrictions on a finance director who was sanctioned less than three years ago, over the objections of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Claimant personal injury solicitors are buying leads obtained illegally and in breach of the referral fee ban, a leading insurance company has claimed. Aviva said solicitors should have to declare their source.

A solicitor who transferred the title of a property from a joint owner without checking whether they had agreed to it – and when they knew nothing about it – has been rebuked by the SRA.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal is expecting to adjudicate on a steady stream of sexual misconduct cases in the coming year, its annual budget has revealed.

A solicitor who forged three documents to help him in an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been struck off. He also forged the dates of legal charges and a mortgage deed.

A woman who set up a fake law firm email address so as to provide a bogus reference to a real firm looking to employ her has been banned from working in the profession.

The low number of suspicious activity reports made by solicitors relating to possible terrorist financing indicates under-reporting, a senior policeman told the profession this week.

A study of 40 law firms which suffered a cyber-attack over the past three years has found that more than £4m of client money was stolen from 23 of them.