Compliance & Regulation
Transparency rule failures lead SRA to issue first fixed penalties
Three law firms that failed to comply with the transparency rules have become the first to receive fixed £750 fines under the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new regime.
LSB chief: Profession needs “course correction” to boost public confidence
Lawyers need to recognise that their role comes with “privileges and obligations” at a time of public concern about unethical behaviour, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board has said.
Family lawyer who took advantage of abuse victims is struck off
A family law solicitor who lied to and took advantage of vulnerable clients, including victims of domestic violence, has been struck off and ordered to pay almost £75,000 in costs.
Allow us to refuse work for ethical reasons, junior lawyers tell firms
Junior lawyers want the right to refuse to work on certain matters for ethical reasons, but few firms currently allow it, research has found. They are frustrated too by the slow pace of cultural change.
Solicitor convicted of tipping off client about money laundering probe
The first solicitor ever prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office for ‘tipping off’ a client about a money laundering investigation was convicted this week at the Old Bailey.
SRA issues detailed defence of its actions on Axiom Ince
The SRA yesterday issued its first detailed statement on the Axiom Ince scandal, saying the suspected dishonesty was “sophisticated” and missed by everyone else.
ASA bans law firm’s TikTok adverts for misleading consumers
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned two misleading TikTok posts by a law firm for not making clear that the people featured were not genuine clients.
Solicitor struck off for lying to friend about training contract offer
A solicitor who convinced a friend that he was director of a Somerset law firm and could get her a training contract has been struck off.
Seven arrests in dawn raids as SFO launches Axiom Ince probe
The Serious Fraud Office today arrested seven people and carried out dawn raids across nine sites, as it announced the launch of a criminal investigation into Axiom Ince.
BSB social media guidance “will do little to protect women’s voices”
The Bar Standards Board’s new social media guidance “will do little to protect women’s voices an increasingly digitised world”, two leading female barristers have argued.
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
