Compliance & Regulation
“About time” – Post Office replaces HSF as Horizon inquiry lawyers
The Post Office has replaced City giant Herbert Smith Freehills as its solicitors for the ongoing Horizon IT Inquiry, it announced yesterday, a move observers suggested was overdue.
Career barriers “could widen ethnicity attainment gap” in SQE
Career barriers facing law students from ethnic minority backgrounds could affect their performance in the SQE if they feel there is little point in doing well.
Vaginal mesh claimants “distraught” after SRA closes firm
Women who claim to have been harmed by vaginal mesh implant surgery have been left “angry and distraught” after the SRA closed down a law firm acting for them.
Barrister suspended for recklessly misleading Court of Appeal
A barrister who recklessly misled the Court of Appeal – and made “serious and misconceived allegations” against other lawyers in doing so – has been suspended for a year.
Lawyers face beefed-up rules on handling complaints
Changes to statutory requirements on how lawyers handle complaints will move closer this week amid concern that consumers are being let down at the moment.
Fine for firm that failed to recognise conflict in property dispute
A law firm that failed to recognise a conflict of interest when it acted for one party in a dispute over a boundary issue on a property it had divided has been fined £4,250.
Solicitor who “continuously and repeatedly” lied to client is struck off
A solicitor who “continuously and repeatedly” lied to a client about the progress of his professional negligence claim has been struck off.
Lawyer eco-campaigners urge City giant to stop fossil fuel work
Climate change campaign group Lawyers Are Responsible has urged law firm giant Allen & Overy to cease acting on fossil fuel infrastructure projects and refuse any future instructions.
SRA to publish salaries of fined solicitors
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to publish the salaries of the solicitors it fines and impose ‘default salaries’ on those who refuse to reveal them.
Solicitor’s inadequate AML checks led to property frauds
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has suspended the owner of a London law firm whose “failings” resulted in two fraudulent property transactions.
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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