Compliance & Regulation
Legal Services Board to probe SRA over SSB Group collapse
The Legal Services Board is to probe the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s actions in the lead-up to the collapse of SSB Group, it has announced.
SDT refuses to overturn ban on ex-law firm employee over missing cash
A man whose parents granted a charge over their house to repay the £90,000 misappropriated from his law firm employer has failed to overturn a ban on working in the profession.
Report calls for major overhaul of BSB enforcement processes
The Bar Standards Board has the right approach to dealing with complaints about barristers’ conduct but there are “a large number of areas” for improvement, a major review has concluded.
Campaigners call on regulator to drop Proudman prosecution
A group of campaigners have called on the BSB to drop its prosecution of high-profile and self-declared feminist barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman over criticisms she made of a judge.
SRA moves language checks to point of admission
The SRA is going ahead with plans to move its English or Welsh language proficiency checks from the point where solicitors apply for their first practising certificates to the point of admission.
Bar Council clashes with BSB over scrapping degree requirement
The Bar Council has strongly attacked plans by the Bar Standards Board to scrap the requirement that Bar students must have at least a lower second-class degree.
SQE “working well” as firms get to grips with qualifying work experience
Around 2,750 students who took one or both parts of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination have now qualified, new Solicitors Regulation Authority figures have shown.
Lack of immigration advisers “encourages illegal services”
A lack of immigration advisers “encourages those who seek to provide advice illegally”, the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner has warned.
SRA pulls prosecution after Foreign Office warning
The SRA has withdrawn all its allegations against a solicitor and non-lawyer after the Foreign Office advised against taking evidence remotely from a crucial witness in Dubai.
Law Society seeks extra £1.76m from solicitors to fund activities
The Law Society wants solicitors to pay £1.76m more towards its operations next year, taking the amount the profession contributes to nearly £37m.
Blog
The new metrics for success in conveyancing
While technology has made much of the conveyancing process faster, there remains a practical limit to how many matters anyone can manage while still keeping standards intact.
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.
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