Compliance & Regulation
“Relatively straightforward” for barristers to avoid cab-rank rule
It seems “relatively straightforward” for barristers to avoid the cab-rank rule and its importance to access to justice may be overstated, the Legal Services Board has said.
SRA: “Significant minority” of firms still falling short on AML
Nearly 30% of firms probed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for their adherence to anti-money laundering rules in the last year were non-compliant, new figures have shown.
SDT rejects employment tribunal finding of solicitor’s discrimination
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has cleared a leading solicitor of pregnancy discrimination against a paralegal despite an employment tribunal finding him guilty of it.
“No evidence” that barristers need new AML regime
There is “absolutely no evidence” that barristers and other advocates need a new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime, their UK representative bodies have argued.
Lawyer jailed for fraud fails in bid to reduce seven-year sentence
A lawyer jailed for seven years for fraud after stealing money from an estate and failing to provide conveyancing services he was paid for has failed in a bid to reduce the sentence.
Solicitor attorneys fined £22k for home insurance failure
Two solicitors who failed in their duties as attorneys under a lasting power of attorney have each been fined £11,250 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Chartered legal executives would have “no role” in running SRA
Chartered legal executives would have “no role” in the governance of the SRA and the way regulation is carried out if they were “subsumed” into the regulator, CILEx Regulation has argued.
Surge of lawyers from Indian sub-continent seeking call to English Bar
The Bar Standards Board has reported a surge of lawyers from the Indian sub-continent seeking to be called to the Bar in England and Wales – even though many have no intention of practising here.
City lawyer struck off for child sex offences
A solicitor formerly at City giant Herbert Smith Freehills has been struck off after being jailed for child sex offences but his identity has been kept private.
SDT “obviously wrong” to name struck-off solicitor’s former clients
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was “obviously wrong” to name former clients of a struck-off solicitor and failing to uphold legal professional privilege, the High Court has ruled.
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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