Compliance & Regulation
Court refuses to unfreeze struck-off solicitor’s ‘client account’
A struck-off solicitor still advising clients on legal matters has failed to obtain an injunction to compel a bank to unfreeze his account over questionable payments he received from abroad.
Fine for solicitor who acted for both property developer and investor
A solicitor who acted for a property investment company and an investor has been fined just over £9,000 for breaking conflict of interest rules.
“Reckless in the extreme” law firm directors struck off
Two law firm directors who used nearly £650,000 in legal aid disbursement payments to prop up their firm, before it went bust owing other creditors a further £1.1m, have been struck off.
Suspended sentence for solicitor who tipped off client about SFO probe
The first solicitor ever prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office for ‘tipping off’ a client about a money laundering investigation has been handed a suspended prison sentence.
Nearly half of Bar students now from ethnic minority backgrounds
Nearly half of UK students on the Bar training course are now from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared to a quarter a decade ago, according to new figures.
Some lawyers’ conduct poses “significant risk to the rule of law”
Lawyers can sometimes be “too inclined” to act unethically or use a “mistaken” adherence to an overly narrow view of the rule of law to justify questionable conduct, major new research has said.
Axiom Ince: SRA receives £33m in client claims but no in-year call for funds
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided against making an unprecedented mid-year call on the profession to bolster its Compensation Fund in wake of Axiom Ince’s collapse.
Law firms “continue to threaten” journalists despite SRA warnings
Libel law firms continue to mislead journalists and others that their letters cannot be published and the SRA needs to act, high-profile tax lawyer Dan Neidle said yesterday.
Solicitor MP clashes with CILEX leaders over regulatory reforms
A solicitor MP yesterday clashed with the leaders of CILEX over the body’s planned reforms, including using the title ‘chartered lawyer’ and creating chartered paralegals.
Solicitor rebuked for baseless threat to prosecute law firm
A solicitor who threatened another law firm with criminal proceedings if it did not settle a negligence claim, when in reality that would not happen, has been rebuked by the SRA.
Blog
How does the legal profession become neuroinclusive?
My learning journey as mum to an autistic son with profound additional needs completely changed the way in which I work as a child protection lawyer.
The real cure for inequality at law firms? Listening
How can men, as one male panellist put it, “get out of the way of people coming up through the ranks?”
Most of these conversations only happen after the men leave the room.
Andy Burnham and the Hillsborough Law: should solicitors be worried?
Now that Andy Burnham has become prime minister, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, otherwise known as the Hillsborough Law, will receive a real boost of political capital.
