News in brief: week beginning 22 September 2014

Caplen comments on Scotland, SRA proposals to recognise Welsh language skills and LLST celebrates tenth birthday

POLITICS

Scottish question:
The president of the Law Society, Andrew Caplen, has commented on the 'No vote' in the Scottish referendum: "Recent commitments from political parties in Westminster to greater devolution, within the UK, could have an impact for the profession. We will actively represent our members' interests as these commitments are developed and implemented."

PUBLIC

Judicial review: The shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, has announced he wants to re-establish the importance of holding governments to account. The Labour MP accused the coalition of 'chipping away' at current powers. This includes the recent cuts to legal aid and new restrictions placed on judicial review. Speaking at the Society of Labour Lawyers event, Khan said the judicial review system and Human Rights Act provide a necessary check on government actions and holding them to account was "very important".

VULNERABLE CLIENT

Human rights: In the judgment of the regional Court of Protection in Bristol, Somerset County Council breached the human rights of a young woman with autism and severe learning disabilities, when it decided to keep her in residential care with restricted access to her family. Judge Nicholas Marston found there was a series of "systemic failures" by the council which wrongly kept the 19-year-old woman, known only as 'P', from her family for over a year. The court ordered her to be returned to the care of her loved ones.

BARRISTERS

Success fees: The president of the Supreme Court has forced two barristers into dropping their claims to success fees in a high-profile case where a husband and wife signed each other's wills. Nicholas Le Poidevin QC and Alexander Learmonth of New Square Chambers acted for the unsuccessful defendant in Marley v Rawlings and another. In a costs judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that the solicitor's insurer should pick up the costs of the claimant for the entire litigation and for the respondents up to the Court of Appeal. The position in relation to the respondents' costs in the Supreme Court was complicated by the fact that their solicitors and counsel were all instructed on conditional fee agreements (CFAs). Lord Neuberger said he was prepared to include the barristers' base costs in the order against the insurer.

LEGAL AID

Domestic abuse: The High Court has granted permission to the voluntary organisation, Rights of Women, to challenge the lawfulness of government changes to legal aid, which are preventing victims of domestic abuse from obtaining legal aid for family cases, even when it is clear there has been violence, or there is an ongoing risk of violence. Represented by the Public Law Project and supported by the Law Society, Rights of Women argue that this is not what parliament intended.

REGULATOR

Language skills: The SRA has published a consultation proposing further changes to its education and training regulations. The consultation proposes recognising Welsh language skills as an alternative to English language skills for solicitors practising in Wales, giving Welsh-only speakers solicitors the same right to practise in Wales as English speaking solicitors.

SOLICITORS

Jail bird: Solicitor Anthony David Preston has been jailed for practising despite being struck off nearly two years ago. Preston pleaded guilty to offences under the Solicitors Act 1974 and Legal Services Act 2007. He was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay costs to the SRA of £20,376.30. He was jailed for acting in conveyancing transactions, administering an oath and obtaining letters of administration despite being struck off the roll of solicitors in October 2012 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).

REGULATOR

Sanction decline: While the number of applications and sanctions heard by the SDT is falling, the watchdog is concerned by a rising number
of private prosecutions. Since 2009 the number of applications to the SDT has declined from a high of 273 in the year leading to 30 April 2010, to 134 for the 16-month period ending 31 August 2014.

SOLICITORS

Strike off: Solicitor Russell Rollings, formerly of Bristol firm Burges Salmon, has been struck off for mishandling the estates of deceased clients. The SDT heard in a prosecution brought by the SRA how Rollings mishandled the payment of monies from client estates a number of times between 2002 and 2012, then attempted to cover his tracks.

CHARITIES

Celebrity barrister: The London Legal Support Trust (LLST) is preparing to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The LLST's Dazzling Decade party will be held on 23 October at the Royal College of Surgeons. Star of TV show Judge Rinder, Robert Rinder, will be joining the festivities alongside leading lawyers, judges and trust supporters.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Sporting chance: Commercial law firm Muckle has beaten competition from specialist law firms to secure a two-year contract to be the sole provider of legal services to England Athletics. The firm, which already advises Sport England, The Football Association, Durham County Cricket Club and more, recently began working with the Caribbean Premier League Twenty 20 cricket tournament.

EUROPE

Cab rank: An advocate general, who advises the European Court of Justice, has found that Transport for London's policy of only allowing black cabs to use the city's bus lanes did not constitute an unlawful transfer of public resources to registered taxis. The exclusion of other minicab companies, therefore, does not constitute illegal state aid. SJ