Compliance & Regulation
Former solicitor with unpaid SDT fine cannot return to profession
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled that a struck-off solicitor, who had still not paid £2,700 of a fine it imposed for a previous offence in 2011, cannot return to the profession.
Jailed solicitor’s fraud has cost profession £2.7m so far
The SRA Compensation Fund has paid out over £2.7m to clients of the law firm operated by Christopher Michael Bilmes, a solicitor jailed for fraud last month.
Male partner fined £23k for lewd song directed at female trainee
A male partner who sang a song about a trainee solicitor’s vagina, accompanied by lewd gestures, at a Christmas party gathering in a pub has been fined £23,000.
Post Office scandal highlights risk of lawyers “absorbing client’s view”
The Post Office scandal highlights the dangers of lawyers absorbing and reflecting back their client’s view “without sufficient independence and critical detachment”.
SRA bans Court of Protection fee-earner and rebukes her supervisor
A fee-earner who failed to manage a vulnerable client’s affairs properly – using her own money to cover her errors – and the partner who supervised her have both been sanctioned.
Axiom founder loses appeal over 14-year fraud sentence
Timothy Schools, the struck-off solicitor jailed for 14 years last summer for pocketing at least £20m from the Axiom Legal Financing Fund, has failed in a bid to reduce his sentence.
Managers need to challenge bad office behaviour “immediately”
Law firm managers who witness unfair treatment should intervene immediately to stop it if possible, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.
Solicitor fined over conflict of interest in SDLT avoidance schemes
A partner who acted for property purchasers and lenders and failed to tell the latter that the former were using stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes has been fined.
LSB looks to beef up regulatory response to misuse of NDAs
The need for a “strengthened and harmonised regulatory approach” to tackle the misuse of non-disclosure agreements is being probed by the Legal Services Board.
Partner struck off for dishonesty over expenses claims
A partner who tried to “obfuscate his charging of personal expenses” to clients of international firm Reed Smith has been struck off.
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
