Compliance & Regulation
Lawyers and CMCs face fee to complain to Financial Ombudsman
Lawyers and CMCs making complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service on behalf of clients will be charged for doing so in future, under plans published this week.
Transferring Pakistan and Bangladesh advocates causing BSB headache
The Bar Standards Board is setting up a taskforce to help it cope with a surge of lawyers from Pakistan and Bangladesh seeking to be called to the Bar in England and Wales.
Ban for ex-Eversheds manager over inappropriate touching
A male former senior client development manager at Eversheds Sutherland who repeatedly grabbed a female colleague at an away day has been barred from the profession.
SRA faces independent review of approach to Axiom Ince
The Legal Services Board is planning an unprecedented independent review of how the Solicitors Regulation Authority has handled the Axiom Ince scandal, MPs were told yesterday.
Rookie barrister reprimanded for lying about court applications
An inexperienced barrister feared seeking the court’s approval to deduct success fees from damages in infant settlement cases but told his employers he had applied for them.
Police inspector fired for abusive tweets aimed at feminist barrister
Dr Charlotte Proudman has welcomed the dismissal of a police inspector who sent her and other women abusive tweets – and contrasted the action with the approach of the Bar Standards Board.
Barrister who halved suspension on appeal refused costs against BSB
The High Court has refused to order costs in favour of a barrister who successfully reduced the suspension imposed on him for recklessly misleading the Court of Appeal.
MPs urged to support review of Legal Services Board
MPs were last week asked to support a review of the Legal Services Board after the chair of the Bar Council said the oversight regulator had refused to agree to one.
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.
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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