Tag Results
Let the Bar regulate solicitor-advocates? Are you having a laugh, asks Law Society?
Monday, 19 November 2012Law Society chief executive Des Hudson has responded to calls for all advocates – including solicitors – to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board by saying: “Are they having a laugh?” And SAHCA chief says QASA and ABSs give solicitor-advocates a “golden opportunity” to compete with barristers.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, bar standards board, Law Society, Legal Services Board, QASA, Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, solicitor-advocates, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Latest news, Market monitor, Solicitors
Hate the Handbook? Curse the code? SRA sets out ‘red tape challenge’
Friday, 16 November 2012The Solicitors Regulation Authority will next month launch its own version of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, chairman Charles Plant announced yesterday at the official opening of the authority’s new headquarters in Birmingham.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, OFR, outcomes-focused regulation, Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA Handbook
Posted in Latest news, Solicitors
"Simply being a solicitor is not enough" in ABS world, says Law Society chief
Thursday, 15 November 2012Simply being a solicitor “is not enough” in the new legal market, but by raising standards further through accreditation schemes and using their brand recognition, solicitors can preserve a dominant market share, the Law Society’s chief executive has insisted.
Tags: conveyancing quality scheme, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, CQS, Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Solicitors
Non-solicitors to hold sway on SRA board
Thursday, 15 November 2012The Solicitors Regulation Authority will have a lay majority for the first time from January 2013 – the last frontline legal regulator to comply with internal governance rules that require it. Meanwhile, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has named an adviser to the Clementi review as its new CEO.
Tags: Council for Licensed Conveyancers, internal governance rules, Legal Services Board, Legal Services Consumer Panel, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Other lawyers, Solicitors
Fire and brimstone
Thursday, 15 November 2012It has been a week of strong words. First of all we had Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC sounding off about the Legal Services Board, and then on Tuesday Solicitors Regulation Authority chairman Charles Plant was uncompromising about his view of the “small but significant” number of solicitors who are not good enough to be in practice. Let’s start with Mr Plant, who does like to drop the occasional grenade to liven things up. In some ways it is hardly controversial to suggest that out of nearly 130,000 practising solicitors, there are some bad apples – but the problem appears a lot bigger than that.
Tags: Bar Council, COFA, COLP, compliance officer for finance and administration, compliance officer for legal practice, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
Exclusive: SRA chairman says too many solicitors are "simply not good enough"
Wednesday, 14 November 2012There are too many solicitors in England and Wales “who are simply not good enough”, the chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority claimed yesterday. He told the 500 firms yet to nominate COLPs that “enough is enough” – they face having their right to practise withdrawn.
Tags: COFA, COLP, compliance officer for finance and administration, compliance officer for legal practice, Law Society, legal education and training review, legal practice course, Legal Services Board, LETR, outcomes-focused regulation, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Solicitors
ABS conversion deadline for LDPs under review
Monday, 12 November 2012The Solicitors Regulation Authority is under pressure to extend its April 2013 deadline for legal disciplinary partnerships with non-lawyer partners to become alternative business structures, after the Legal Services Board said it was “unlikely” to insist on it before 2014.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, LDP, legal disciplinary practice, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Other lawyers, Solicitors
Concern over emergence of referral fees once will-writing and estate work is reserved
Friday, 9 November 2012The regulation of will-writing and estate administration needs to be drawn widely to ensure that the referral fee culture that has prevailed in personal injury does not emerge in private client work, the Law Society has warned.
Tags: estate administration, Law Society, Legal Services Board, referral fees, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Legal Services Board, Solicitors
Exclusive: ombudsman decides against allowing third parties to complain about lawyers
Thursday, 8 November 2012The Legal Ombudsman will not allow third parties to bring complaints against lawyers for the time being, Legal Futures has learned. However, it will in future accept complaints from prospective clients, while the limit for compensation will rise from £30,000 to £50,000
Tags: bar standards board, complaints, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Law Society, Legal Ombudsman, LeO, Office for Legal Complaints, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Legal Ombudsman
New indemnity insurers capture market share as solicitors pay less for their cover this year
Thursday, 8 November 2012Greater competition for business has led to a small fall in the amount of money solicitors paid for their basic professional indemnity cover this year, figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority show. New entrants captured more than 10% of the market.
Tags: professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Indemnity insurance, Latest news, Solicitors