Compliance & Regulation
Strike-off for solicitor who kept charity in dark while overcharging estate
A solicitor who overcharged a deceased client’s estate by £35,000 and sold his house to a company owned by a trust of which she was a beneficiary has been struck off.
SDT “went easy” on solicitor who tried to trick farmer out of tenancy
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was wrong to find that an agricultural law solicitor who used a ‘common’ ruse to trick an opponent was not dishonest.
Big fine for solicitor’s sexual harassment “a clear message”, says SDT
A male City solicitor who sexually harassed a female solicitor at a work event has been fined £30,000 in what a tribunal said was a “clear message” that such behaviour is “completely unacceptable”.
SQE stands up in the era of ChatGPT, says SRA chief
The Solicitors Qualifying Examination holds up well in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, the boss of the Solicitors Regulation Authority says today.
City law firm staff banned after indecent photos convictions
Two support staff at leading City practices have been banned from the profession after being convicted of possessing indecent photographs of children.
“Over-excited” firms risk ChatGPT data breaches
Law firms and other businesses that are “over-excited” by the potential of ChatGPT to boost productivity risk inputting sensitive and confidential client information.
SRA to use new economic crime power “hundreds of times a year”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority expects to use its proposed new power to demand information from solicitors about economic crime several hundred times a year, it has emerged.
SRA fines firm £5k for persistent anti-money laundering failures
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has continued to flex its new fining powers by issuing a £5,000 penalty against a law firm for six years of anti-money laundering failures.
Two for two: struck-off Irish solicitor struck off in England and Wales
A solicitor already struck off in Ireland for a different offence has now been struck off in England and Wales after using one client’s money to pay another’s tax liability.
Partner suspended for trying to “trick” farmer out of tenancy
A partner in a large Midlands law firm, who tried to “trick” an elderly farmer out of part of his protected tenancy in the way he sent notices to quit, has been suspended for a year.
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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