Competence

There is near unanimity among the public that lawyers should have to demonstrate more actively than now that they remain competent throughout their careers, the Legal Services Board has found.

The Court of Appeal has rejected the claim that a man convicted of a sexual offence after a police officer posed online as a child was given inadequate legal advice.

The Supreme Court has provided a “wholly new legal roadmap” for professional negligence after its ruling last week in two linked cases, the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association has said.

A High Court judge has struck out a £58m unlawful means conspiracy claim against a law firm, four solicitors and a QC, which she described as “fatally flawed” and “abusive”.

A law firm has failed in its bid to strike out claims alleging that it concealed the true purchase prices for properties its clients bought and paid away the surplus without instructions.

A client was prevented by the Limitation Act from suing a law firm for negligence when a fire destroyed her property, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

There must be a “third way” of ensuring that qualified lawyers are competent without relying on disciplinary proceedings, the director of regulation and policy at the Legal Services Board has said.

A law firm was not entitled to make deductions from the pay of a consultant solicitor because it was unhappy with the quality of his work, an employment tribunal has ruled.

A High Court judge has refused international firm DLA Piper’s request to stay a €12m professional negligence claim brought against it by a Russian cruise ship company.

A law firm that settled a negligence claim is entitled to recoup some of what it paid from the counsel it instructed, even though proceedings against him were dropped, the High Court has ruled.