Compliance & Regulation
CMCs still pushing out “misleading and unfair” advertising
Claims management companies are still producing “misleading, unclear and unfair advertising”, the Financial Conduct Authority has said.
Unrepentant barrister disbarred for breaking Supreme Court embargo
The barrister found in contempt of court by the Supreme Court after he released its embargoed ruling on the planned third runway for Heathrow airport has now been disbarred.
And then there were two – SRA shuts another Metamorph firm
The Solicitors Regulation Authority last week closed down yet another firm in the Metamorph Law Group, leaving just two still operating.
Firm handed largest-ever fine for transparency rules non-compliance
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has fined a law firm that did not comply with its transparency rules £3,500, the highest penalty it has issued for the offence.
BSB returns to “part fund” Legal Choices website
Legal Choices, the consumer-facing website which since 2019 has been paid for by all the legal regulators apart from the Bar Standards Board, is now receiving “part funding” from the BSB.
MPs criticise rugby bosses for response to club owner’s SDT sanction
MPs have criticised the Rugby Football Union for not taking action against an owner of a leading club who was banned from working for law firms.
Government to give SRA power to demand more information from firms
The government is to extend the SRA’s powers to demand information from solicitors and firms beyond money laundering matters to economic crime more generally.
Law firm fined record £20,000 for “reckless” AML breaches
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has fined an Oxfordshire law firm a record £20,000 after finding it “reckless” in failing to comply with the anti-money laundering requirements.
LawtechUK: Regulatory risks of AI “inhibiting law firm adoption”
Hesitation about adopting artificial intelligence by law firms nervous of the risks presented by a regulatory grey area is causing a bottleneck that needs to be cleared.
Failure to comply with Legal Services Act “did not invalidate indictment”
A council’s failure to ensure either a lawyer or ‘exempt’ individual served a Crown Court indictment did not “automatically invalidate” it, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
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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