Compliance & Regulation
SRA agrees to take over regulation of CILEX members
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has agreed to regulate CILEX members if it decides to press ahead with changing regulator.
Ex-solicitor struck off 24 years ago fails in bid to return to roll
A woman struck off as a solicitor 24 years ago has failed in her second attempt to be restored to the roll, with a tribunal saying the passage of time did not of itself justify it.
Law firm fines should be a minimum of £5k, says SRA
The SRA has proposed that any fine it imposes on law firms should be at least £5,000, as well as ending fines for solicitors convicted of drink-driving.
Five-year suspension for solicitor – for practising while suspended
A veteran solicitor who practised while suspended has been suspended again, although the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said it had “some reservations” about the sanction.
SRA “has not justified” huge compensation fund levy rises
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has not done enough to justify the huge increases in compensation fund contributions for the coming year, the Law Society has argued.
SRA: Law firms continuing to hold client money “not inevitable”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has dropped its biggest hint so far that it could initially restrict and ultimately end solicitors holding client money.
Regulators’ efforts to improve standards in coroners’ courts stalling
A cross-regulator effort to improve the standard of practice in coroners’ courts has had limited effect, the first evaluation of the initiative has found.
Firms face new rule to publish price information for all services
Law firms regulated by CILEx Regulation could become the first – but not the last – required to publish price and service information for all the legal services they provide.
£10k fine for solicitor who amended transfer without client consent
A solicitor who amended and lodged a property transfer without her client’s knowledge or consent has been fined £10,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
SRA fails in appeal over solicitor cleared of AML breaches
The High Court has upheld a ruling by the SDT that a solicitor’s errors in conducting due diligence for anti-money laundering purposes did not amount to professional misconduct.
Blog
The UK legal market is polarising – and the middle is disappearing
Consolidation and the boutique boom are not contradictory. They are the same market stretching apart at both ends – and it changes what your firm is worth, and to whom.
Conveyancing’s consistency problem is about pressure, not skills
When I qualified, a conveyancer had perhaps 10 or 12 plates to keep spinning. Today’s conveyancers have 20 or 30, and almost none of the room for error I had starting out.
The trade-off mid-sized firm partners think they’re making
Most of the partners I talk to describe the same tension. They want the firm to run efficiently and hit its numbers, but they also want their people to feel supported, developed and fairly treated.
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