Compliance & Regulation

A significant number of chambers do not know whether their barristers have declared that they are subject to the money laundering regulations, the Bar Standards Board has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority made 20 suspicious activity reports to the National Crime Agency in the past year, relating to solicitors handling £149m of potentially criminal funds.

The complaints partner at a West Midlands law firm who “frustrated the Legal Ombudsman in carrying out its function” by failing to respond to requests, has been fined £4,000.

A law firm that was non-compliant with the anti-money laundering rules for three years has been fined for showing “a disregard for statutory and regulatory obligations”.

The High Court has denied rights of audience to a disbarred barrister jailed for a bomb hoax at the London Olympics, which would have allowed him to represent a prisoner in habeas corpus proceedings.

The Bar Standards Board needs to highlight the link between online misogyny and female barristers who speak out on issues affecting women in the law, a campaigning group has argued.

An independent review by a leading public law silk into possible miscarriages of justice caused by the Post Office computer system “was used to, and in some ways contributed to, a cover-up”.

A criminal defence solicitor who said he certified two lasting powers of attorney “as a favour” for an elderly client has been fined £6,000 for failing to make the necessary checks.

A solicitor has admitted manifest incompetence in failing to advise a 92-year-old client to refuse a £60,000 engagement ring and £35,000 car in part-payment of the property he was selling.

The Legal Services Board is to undertake a “first-principles analysis” of the list of reserved legal activities to consider “potential alternative configurations”.