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Readers will be aware of issues surrounding the right to be forgotten, which gives some of those with a blemish in their past the chance to erase it from Google searches.

But what of the errant solicitor? And specifically those who have received an indefinite sanction from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal? Not knowing how long a penalty should endure makes it difficult, Obiter imagines, to assess how long the details of the wrongdoing should be published.

Fear not, the SDT has a plan. Following an update to the tribunal’s publication policy, judgments with indefinite sanctions will now remain on the website for 60 years rather than indefinitely. This is, of course, subject to a successful application resulting in removal.

This will be great news for the (admittedly narrow) cohort of solicitors who qualify in their mid-20s, transgress immediately, then in their mid-80s decide that they’re being held back by details of their offence still being in the public domain.

Obiter looks forward to reporting from the first application to have a judgment removed – sometime around 2079.

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