Compliance & Regulation
Paralegal rebuked for £1.85m payment error
A senior paralegal has been rebuked for wrongly requesting the release of at least £1.85m to a property developer which later went bust, leaving his law firm to repay buyers.
High-profile non-lawyer firm owner disqualified by SRA
The man who founded now-defunct Stobart Barristers and then bought two well-known criminal law firms has been disqualified from running a law firm in future.
Engine of change – Philip’s new role as he heads to SRA exit
The outgoing chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has lined up his first non-executive role by joining the board of the Institute of the Motor Industry.
NDAs to cover up harassment and discrimination “will be void”
The government is to ban non-disclosure agreements covering harassment and discrimination unless the victim themselves asks for one.
Young barrister reprimanded for throwing bottle in bar
A barrister has been reprimanded following her conviction for throwing a bottle at another woman in a Nottingham cocktail bar.
Solicitor tried to stop counterpart reporting breach of undertaking
A solicitor who breached an undertaking and then tried to stop his opposite number reporting him to the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been struck off.
Solicitor acting for Hamas ditches “traditional law firm model”
Riverway Law, the law firm representing terror group Hamas, has closed down in its current form and is set to reappear as the legal arm of a movement called Riverway to the Sea.
BSB lays out reforms to speed up disciplinary cases
Major changes to the way in which barristers are disciplined – enabling cases to move faster through the process – have been laid out by the Bar Standards Board.
Barrister filmed drinking brandy in car during trial lunch break
A high-profile criminal barrister filmed drinking brandy while sitting in his car during a break in a case has been fined £3,000 by a disciplinary tribunal.
Caseworker fails again to overturn SRA ban
The SDT has rejected the latest attempt by an immigration caseworker to overturn an order imposed by the SRA controlling his work in the profession.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
