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Complaints about the work of solicitors handling immigration appeals have finally reached the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which has fined a solicitor £10,000 for acting recklessly by signing judicial review claim forms with inaccurate grounds of appeal and failing to supervise an employee who drafted the applications.

Almost half of asylum seekers are not satisfied with the service provided by their lawyers, a report for the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman has found. It exposed how some firms paid interpreters to recruit asylum seeker clients at ports and detention centres.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is investigating an immigration law firm condemned by Sir Brian Leveson for a “systemic failure” in the way it allowed an unqualified caseworker to issue a judicial review without supervision.

Ian Macdonald QC, one of the country’s leading immigration lawyers, has been found guilty of three misconduct offences by a Bar disciplinary tribunal. The offences relate to Mr Macdonald’s role as joint head of Kings Court Chambers in Birmingham.

A member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives who specialises in conveyancing has become the first to receive independent practice rights. A probate specialist and a legal executive who runs his own immigration firm were also granted independent rights.