Compliance & Regulation
Law Society would support Legal Ombudsman outsourcing
The Law Society has said it would be “inclined to support” any bid by the Legal Ombudsman to secure legislation which would allow it to outsource complaints handling.
Solicitor fined after acting for friends and family without insurance
A solicitor who was unaware that the rules had changed so that she could not handle friends and family’s conveyancing for free without insurance has been fined.
High Court rejects barrister’s bid for Lib Dems disclosure order
The High Court has rejected a barrister’s bid for an order requiring the Liberal Democrats to disclose the identities of people who made anonymous complaints about her.
SRA issues first fixed penalty fine for diversity data failure
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has handed out the first fixed penalty fine for a law firm’s failure to submit its workforce diversity data within the deadline.
Solicitor jailed for false accounting fails to overturn conviction
The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by a former solicitor jailed more than four years ago for false accounting at his law firm.
Judge refuses to intervene over barrister who swapped sides
The High Court has refused to intervene in a dispute over the counsel for a claimant having previously been on the record for the defendants.
High Court upholds SDT decision to clear former Law Society president
The High Court has dismissed an appeal against a decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to clear former Law Society president David Greene of lying to the county court.
Partner agrees to leave profession for “recklessly” misleading firm
A former equity partner at Thompsons has agreed to remove himself from the roll after admitting he “recklessly” misled it about the intimate nature of his relationship with a colleague.
Tribunal ends solicitor’s indefinite suspension after 15 years
The SDT has permitted a solicitor it indefinitely suspended 15 years ago to return to practise after he provided “full and comprehensive evidence of training in property law”.
Gray’s Inn admits student charged in Greece over refugee work
Gray’s Inn has admitted as a student member a man who is facing a criminal prosecution in Greece over refugee rescue work he did as a volunteer in Greece.
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
Associates
