Compliance & Regulation
High Court: Solicitor did not “condone” partner’s £16m fraud
The insurer of London law firm Jirehouse – whose founder was jailed last year for fraud – has failed its ongoing bid to exclude liability for £6m in losses suffered by a client.
Solicitor who misled clients over LPA forms is struck off
A solicitor who told clients that the Office of the Public Guardian was to blame for what were actually her own errors in registering lasting powers of attorney has been struck off.
SRA sets out fee caps for financial mis-selling claims
The SRA has set out the fee caps it is planning to impose to prevent law firms handling financial product or services mis-selling claims from charging “excessive” fees.
Irwin Mitchell contact centre worker pretended to be lawyer
A contact-centre worker at Irwin Mitchell, who led another law firm to believe she was acting in an employment matter against its client, has been banned from working for law firms.
Metamorph closures have cost profession £1.4m so far
The closure of 16 offices of the Metamorph Group by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has so far cost the profession £1.4m, it has emerged.
Lawyers face enhanced risk in “grim” AI-fuelled crime outlook
Lawyers and others face a future in which criminals can use artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT to enhance their ability to commit fraud, Europol has warned.
Legal Services Board pushes back on claim it is overreaching
The Legal Services Board has firmly rebuffed suggestions that it is guilty of ‘overreach’ in doing more than just overseeing the performance of the frontline regulators.
SRA acknowledges need to speed up investigations into solicitors
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is introducing tougher targets for its investigators in a bid to reduce delays in processing complaints about solicitors.
BSB “assessing” self-reports from barristers over cab-rank rule defiance
The Bar Standards Board said last night that it was assessing self-reports from barristers who say they will defy the cab-rank rule – but experts predict it will not take action until they do.
Non-lawyers banned for taking money and forging signatures
Two non-lawyers who between them misappropriated £1m from their respective law firms’ bank accounts have been banned from working in the profession.
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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