Compliance & Regulation
Law firm fined £12,400 for not making good on undertakings
A law firm in Nottingham that failed to perform undertakings it gave on two property transactions – allowing another party to register a charge on one of them – has been fined £12,400.
Profession to pay for firm failures as compensation fund levy soars
The SRA has proposed a 336% hike in compensation fund contributions for law firms in the wake of the spiralling cost of law firm failures.
SRA places controls on head of department who misued blue badge
A senior law firm staff member who used her late mother’s disabled badge to park in a disabled bay close to its offices has been placed under controls imposed by the SRA.
Suspension for barrister who failed to pay former law firm partner
A barrister who failed to comply with a court order to pay £54,600 to a former salaried partner in his law firm has been suspended for six months by a Bar disciplinary tribunal.
Lawyers and CMCs face £250 fee to complain to Financial Ombudsman
Lawyers and claims management companies making volume complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service on behalf of clients will be charged £250 per case, it has proposed.
Khan faces second jail term after losing appeal against contempt ruling
The Court of Appeal has rejected former solicitor Sophie Khan’s bid to overturn a contempt of court ruling sought by the SRA that will see her head to jail for a second time.
Electoral Commission director named LSB chief executive
The director of communications, policy and research at the Electoral Commission is to become the new chief executive of the Legal Services Board.
Cost of regulation would “drop like a stone” with no client account
The cost of regulation would “drop like a stone” if solicitors were not allowed to hold client money, the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority said yesterday.
SSB victims group expresses concern over regulators’ investigations
The SSB Victims Support Group has expressed concern about the way the Solicitors Regulation Authority is conducting its investigation into the collapsed Sheffield law firm.
Litigation funding supports the public interest, major research finds
Litigation funding supports the public interest and access to justice but will remain niche in aiding consumers, according to major research which identified 44 cases in the last five years.
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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