Compliance & Regulation
Solicitor struck off over LPA signature short-cuts
A solicitor who submitted two lasting powers of attorney to the Office of the Public Guardian showing she had witnessed the donor’s signatures – when she had not – has been struck off.
Solicitor struck off for antisemitic and offensive tweets
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal today struck off the practitioner it found earlier this week had published antisemitic and offensive posts on Twitter.
Clyde & Co “failed to reflect on its own failures” in AML case
City firm Clyde & Co “failed to reflect on its own role” in AML rule breaches until a late stage and sought instead to blame one of its partners, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has held.
Barrister “recklessly misled” BSB in applying for practising certificate
A barrister who “recklessly misled” the Bar Standards Board into giving him a practising certificate by falsely stating that he was a door tenant at a set of chambers has been disbarred.
Berkshire firm hit with £16k fine for AML compliance failures
A law firm that did not have sufficient anti-money laundering controls in place for nearly six years has been fined £16,000 for its failures.
SDT rules that solicitor posted antisemitic tweets
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal yesterday upheld allegations that a solicitor published antisemitic and offensive posts on social media and also abused SRA staff.
Biggest and smallest regulators top LSB performance assessment
Only the biggest and smallest legal regulators – the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Costs Lawyer Standards Board – have ‘passed’ their annual performance assessments by the Legal Services Board.
Government rejects major changes to SARs regime
The Home Office has rejected changes proposed by the Law Commission almost five years ago, which would have introduced statutory guidance on the suspicious activity reports.
Ministers ask LSB to set out strategy on AI use in legal sector
Ministers have asked the Legal Services Board to outline how it plans to approach the regulation of artificial intelligence in the sector by the end of April.
Solicitor fined £10,000 for directing client’s fees to own bank account
An experienced solicitor has been fined more than £10,000 for taking payments from a client into his own bank account after striking an agreement with the SRA.
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.
Reports
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