Compliance & Regulation
SRA forced to wait for end of Post Office inquiry to take action
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is going to have to wait until the end of the Post Office inquiry before it can take formal disciplinary action against any lawyers involved in the scandal.
Consumers keen to read reviews of barristers, says Trustpilot
There are only 15 barristers on Trustpilot but their pages are viewed 4,000 times a day by consumers, showing the opportunity for the Bar, a webinar heard last week.
LSB to urge regulatory action in bid to strengthen professional ethics
A greater focus on professional ethics among law students and qualified lawyers, with stronger supervision by regulators, is needed to uphold the rule of law, the Legal Services Board has said.
Tribunal clears conveyancer over allegations of AML dishonesty
A solicitor accused of not having a firm-wide anti-money laundering risk assessment in place and lying about it to the SRA, has been cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
SRA “risks acting arbitrarily” in sexual misconduct crackdown
The SRA risks acting “unfairly and arbitrarily” if it refers almost all cases relating to sexual misconduct to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, a leading regulatory lawyer has warned.
Consumer panel calls for standardised information to help consumers
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called on regulators to consider how information providers give to consumers can be standardised, with complaints and conveyancing prices particular concerns.
CLC “making greater use of range of enforcement powers”
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is making greater use of the range of its enforcement powers, rather than going straight to full disciplinary action, its chief executive has said.
Reprimand for barrister convicted of VAT offence
A barrister who “lost control of his finances” during the breakdown of his marriage and was convicted of a VAT offence has been reprimanded by a Bar disciplinary tribunal.
Solicitor used £230,000 of client money to prop up firm
A solicitor who shuffled around client account money to prop up his firm – leaving a hole of at least £230,000 and charities out of money bequeathed to them – has been struck off.
SRA “should police anti-money laundering across UK legal sector”
An SRA with “beefed up” powers should be the single body policing money laundering across the UK legal sector, which currently enjoys “near impunity” from breaching the rules.
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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