Solicitors

The new breed of freelance solicitor – or what will officially be called an ‘independent solicitor’ – could join forces with others in a chambers-style arrangement, the SRA has suggested.

A solicitor who took the “extraordinary approach” of trying to settle his debts of over £115,000 with promissory notes has been struck off. He also used client monies to pay office expenditure.

The Law Society recorded a deficit of £11.5m on a budget of £116m in the last financial year, compared to a surplus of £6.7m in the previous 12 months, its annual report has revealed.

A defendant personal injury lawyer who inaccurately recorded a telephone conversation with the other side in an attendance note – which led to the court being misled – has been fined.

Four in ten law firms are doing more professional training following the end of the hours-based approach, research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found.

A chartered legal executive has been reprimanded for asking the SRA not to tell his own regulator that it had investigated him. Unfortunately for him, they have an information-sharing agreement.

Comprehensive guidelines to boost the roles of and relationships between in-house lawyers and non-executive directors have been drawn up, in the hope of minimising the chances of an ethical lapse.

The Legal Services Board is set to begin work on a a review of continuing competence that will revisit the possibility of formal periodic reaccreditation for lawyers.

The former head of operations at well-known media law firm Schillings has been banned from working for solicitors after reselling the firm’s used mobile phones and pocketing the proceeds.

Concerns over the decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to move from the criminal to the civil standard of proof are “misplaced”, the tribunal’s president has said.

Scottish law firms should be allowed to accept external investment, while the title of ‘lawyer’ should be protected, the Scottish government has indicated.

A former senior partner who plundered £2m from his firm’s client accounts as well as both private and charitable trusts after falling victim to a lottery scam has been thrown out of the profession.

The Financial Conduct Authority is to explore whether to use its power to cap the fees charged by personal injury claims management companies, it has emerged.

An unregulated version of a ‘dispersed’ or ‘virtual’ law firm has been granted a waiver by the SRA so that its solicitors can practise under their professional titles, Legal Futures can reveal.

There are powerful reasons why the SRA and Law Society could reverse their positions respectively in favour of and against reform of professional indemnity insurance, it has been claimed.