Compliance & Regulation
Employment can offer barristers more ethical protection
Being employed by companies or law firms can give barristers more protection when faced with ethical challenges than those in private practice, it has been suggested.
SRA issues M&A warning to law firm buyers and sellers
Solicitors have been warned by their regulator about undertaking adequate due diligence on mergers and acquisitions and putting client interests first when striking the deal.
Law firm fined for allowing COFA to steal £157,000
A law firm whose compliance officer for finance and administration stole £157,000 has been fined for not having proper systems governing payments from client account.
Solicitor rebuked for leaving client unrepresented at hearing
A solicitor who withdrew from a Family Court hearing over a fee dispute so late that he left his client no chance to find a replacement has been rebuked by the SRA.
Suspension for senior partner who had sex in the office
A male senior partner found guilty of multiple instances of sexual misconduct in the office with junior female staff – including having sex with one on a desk – has been suspended for two years.
Lawyers and law firms “need to talk much more about integrity”
Lawyers and law firms should be “actively” reflecting on and talking about integrity “much more” than they currently do or appear to do, a leading legal academic has argued.
FSCS wrongly tells law firm clients their solicitors are unauthorised
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has admitted writing to law firm clients and wrongly informing them that their solicitors were no longer authorised.
High Court judge “compromised integrity” with CA application
A High Court judge has been given a formal warning after it emerged that he had seen an independent assessment written for his application to join the Court of Appeal.
Second solicitor to face tribunal over “threatening” vaccine letters
A solicitor accused of baselessly threatening legal proceedings over the Covid vaccine is to face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
Warning for judge who “accidently” liked anti-Israel LinkedIn post
A senior judge has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct after he “accidentally” liked an anti-Israel LinkedIn post which he later described as “repulsive”.
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.
Reports
Associates
