Solicitors

Law firms have been urged to change their retainers now so they can charge clients for holding their money, given the “possibility, if not likelihood” of negative interest rates.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority could offer “activity-based licences”, allowing lawyers to provide individual reserved legal activities instead of its current ‘all or nothing’ approach to regulation.

The new way of qualifying as a solicitor, including passing a centralised, two-part examination, will go live from 1 September 2021 after the Legal Services Board approved the reforms.

The 16-office law firm consolidator shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in August has been placed into liquidation owing creditors nearly £17m.

A solicitor who said he was “unable to take control” of his firm’s accounts when he started receiving client money – he admitted not knowing interest should be paid to clients – has been fined £10,000.

A property lawyer who used Tipp-Ex to change the dates of charges he needed to register at Companies House has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A solicitor who obtained a rare costs award against the SRA is to ask the High Court to rule that the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was wrong to say it could not award them on the indemnity basis.

The number of solicitors on the roll has topped 200,000 for the first time, with 150,000 now practising. Meanwhile, the proportion of solicitors working in private practice has fallen to an all-time low.

Not all mistakes made by solicitors are professional misconduct, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled in dismissing allegations that an assistant misled the court.

A senior solicitor who did a Ku Klux Klan impersonation at his Black secretary and repeatedly groped her bottom has been fined and urged to undertake diversity training.

A pro-Beijing Hong Kong politician and lawyer, who is also qualified here, is set to face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over allegations that he said pro-independence supporters should be killed.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has taken the unusual step of making a costs order against the Solicitors Regulation Authority for the “grave errors” it made in a case it eventually had to withdraw.

A personal injury lawyer who inflated costs, put false information before a court, misled her insurer and “wrecked lives” has been struck off.

Solicitors and accountants are at odds over whether the new economic crime levy should be calculated by reference to their income or the number of suspicious activity reports they made.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is applying for charitable status as part of becoming a distinct legal entity within the Law Society Group, it has emerged.