Compliance & Regulation

Barrister apprenticeships are set to become a reality after their approval by the Bar Standards Board and Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has again seen its costs slashed after the contested part of its prosecution of a solicitor failed.

Lawyers take a defensive or confrontational approach to complaints “as standard, showing no empathy or understanding of clients’ experience”, the Legal Ombudsman has said.

The Legal Services Board has proposed a 14% hike in its budget as it looks to strengthen direct oversight of the frontline regulators, which may include active monitoring of the SRA.

A personal injury fee-earner lied about injuries she suffered in three car accidents, as well as about her academics and professional status, a circuit judge has ruled.

A veteran solicitor who falsified a client’s signature on a notice of severance as part of divorce proceedings after losing the original has been struck off.

The SRA was “not justified” in alleging that a solicitor convicted of drink-driving concealed the extent of her wrongdoing to her firm, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled.

An SRA adjudicator was wrong to rebuke a solicitor for supposedly trying to prevent a client from reporting him to the regulator and Legal Ombudsman, the SDT has held.

Public confidence in barristers is high, but lower among those from minority backgrounds, especially when it comes to perceptions of whether they treat everyone fairly.

It is “unlikely” that the SRA would take regulatory action against a solicitor who refuses to work on fossil fuel matters for reasons of conscience, counsel’s opinion has declared.