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As of 2017 there were about 140,000 practising solicitors and in 1980 there were less than 40,000, so you would expect to see a lot more SDT reports today. I think there has been a change though in the type of miscreant that is now being struck off. Historically there was a lot of 'borrowing' from client account. These days client money is much better protected probably in part because firms have grown in size, but there does appear to have been a big increase in the type of dishonesty revealed in Mr Burnett's case perhaps because in the age of electronic communication it has become much easier to prove documents have been created after the event.