Compliance & Regulation
Jail sentence for barrister guilty of child sex offences
A barrister who travelled across the country with the intention of sexually abusing teenage girls – unaware that they were not real – has been jailed for three and a half years.
Nearly 1,200 students sign up to first SQE sitting
Nearly 1,200 people have signed up to take the first ever Solicitors Qualifying Examination assessment in November, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed.
Second paralegal at firm banned for falsifying time records
A second paralegal working at National Accident Law has been banned from the profession for charging clients for more calls than she actually made.
Non-practising barrister fined for calling herself “barrister-at-law”
A non-practising barrister has been reprimanded and fined for describing herself as a “barrister at law” on emails and telling a client she could represent her.
Sister and brother struck off for work on dubious investment schemes
A sister and brother have been struck off as solicitors for putting their own financial interests ahead of clients who lost money in dubious parking space and storage pod investment schemes.
LegalZoom is first business to have ABSs in England and the US
LegalZoom has become the first business to have an alternative business structure license in both the US and England and Wales after winning approval in the pioneering state of Arizona.
Scotland mulls single regulator for all lawyers
The possibility of a single regulator for all lawyers in Scotland – and the title of ‘lawyer’ having statutory protection – is being canvassed by the Scottish government.
SRA bans non-solicitors for theft, fabrication and forgery
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has banned a string of non-solicitors from working in the profession for dishonesty, including theft of electronic devices, fabricating letters and faking a client’s signature.
Solicitor misled own relatives about their conveyancing fees
A conveyancing solicitor who misled clients he was related on how their fees would be calculated has been fined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Rebuke for solicitor whose failures inadvertently facilitated fraud
A solicitor’s failure to conduct proper client ID checks and to confirm that the client owned the property he said he did inadvertently facilitated a fraud, it has emerged.
Blog
It’s time for law firms to ask tougher questions
For years, many law firms have treated ID verification as a box-ticking exercise. Run a liveness check, match a face to a document and move on. But that is no longer good enough.
Business fatigue to AI will risk job security
Whilst we know professional learning has always been part of career paths, to hire, retain and keep talent, AI needs to be embedded as a core part of this training.
On good authority? GenAI and the reputational risks to law firms
As GenAI’s influence grows, so do the risks which are already playing out in courtrooms across England and Wales, where some early adopters are setting precedents they would rather not.
