Compliance & Regulation
Ex-DLA partner avoids strike-off for trying to fake witness’s signature
A former equity partner at DLA Piper has avoided being struck off despite admitting to trying to fake a witness’s signature on a mortgage deed.
Solicitor struck off for lying about links with illegal money lender
A solicitor who lied to both his employer and his regulator by denying he had any kind of relationship with a convicted illegal money lender has been struck off.
LeO resolves record number of complaints in performance “step change”
The Legal Ombudsman has achieved the required step-change in performance in the last year, it has declared, with waiting times finally falling as 44% more cases were resolved.
New AML supervision regime for lawyers moves step closer
HM Treasury has launched a long-awaited consultation that could see a new public body replace legal regulators in supervising lawyers’ anti-money laundering activities.
BSB chief: Many practices at the Bar have “outlived their usefulness”
There are many working practices at the Bar “which may have outlived their usefulness and no longer work in the interests of consumers”, the director general of the Bar Standards Board said yesterday.
Being a higher court judge is “saleable” post-retirement
Being a higher court judge is “saleable”, with post-judicial work “as significant a perk for many as the knight/damehood”, a former circuit judge has claimed.
Ban on providing legal advisory services to Russians comes into force
A ban on UK lawyers providing ‘legal advisory services’ to Russians comes into force today, while a review has found good level of sanctions compliance among commercial barristers.
High Court boost for costs lawyers as new way to qualify goes live
The first course offering the new way to qualify as a costs lawyer has begun admitting students in the wake of comments from a High Court master praising the contribution of costs lawyers.
Large North-West conveyancing practice to close doors on Friday
A large conveyancing firm in the North-West is to close its doors on Friday, with its two directors taking some staff to join the practice owned by listed company Smoove.
Retired judges “should be regulated” if they return to practice
Retired judges who engage in legal work after their retirement, whether advocacy or litigation, should be regulated by the BSB or SRA, academics 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.
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