A newly released study by Boon and Whyte has collected data on lawyer’s discipline from across different eras of regulation in England and Wales. The data collected allows for a comparison of lawyer discipline before and after the introduction of the Legal Services Act 2007. The act led to the creation of separate regulatory and representative bodies for each of the legal professions in England and Wales.
The paper raises many interesting questions, including why disciplinary case brought by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (formed as part of the creation of the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority), have remained steady, despite an increase in the number of Solicitors joining the profession. The report also found that the number of disciplinary cases brought against Solicitors is fairly regular across all levels of the profession.
Read the full report here, or read legal academic, Professor Richard Moorehead’s comments here.