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Our regular round-up of news you need to know includes the appeal court quashing an ILEX disciplinary ruling, delays for solicitors renewing practising certificates, a survey of young drivers on referral fees, a survey finding support for outsourcing and much more besides.

The controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) will now go live in April 2012, it emerged last week. We can also reveal that contingency plans have been drawn up for the judiciary not playing its expected role in QASA.

Amid the excitement of ABSs going live, in a small way, and the Legal Ombudsman’s first birthday, I have been keeping an eye on the third limb of the Legal Services Board’s initial three priorities for its first three years – ensuring the independence of regulation within those approved regulators where there is also a representative function. With both the Law Society and Bar Council still non-compliant with its rules, it is not a story that reflects very well on the LSB.

A senior figure in the world of legal regulation yesterday described to me the impending effort to ban referral fees as the Dangerous Fees Act, recalling the infamously half-baked and kneejerk Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

The Insolvency Service last week presented petitions to wind up three will-writing businesses. The news comes as the Legal Services Board issues a call for evidence on whether to make will-writing, the entire probate process and estate administration reserved legal activities.