Compliance & Regulation
Solicitor who backdated tribunal application “to avoid criticism” struck off
A veteran solicitor who backdated an application to the property chamber of the First-tier Tribunal after missing a deadline has accepted being struck off.
Ethics opinion stymies UK ABS’s takeover of New York law firm
A London-listed law firm’s bid to buy a New York practice has led the state Bar association to limit the circumstances in which New York lawyers can work for firms owned by non-lawyers.
Solicitor who “faced up to his problems” regains right to practise
A solicitor who “turned his life around” and “faced up to his problems”, including alcohol addiction, after being suspended has regained his practising certificate.
SRA pays solicitor record £228k in costs over “improper” prosecution
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has paid a record £228,000 in costs to a solicitor whose prosecution a disciplinary tribunal found was “improperly brought and pursued”.
Legal Ombudsman must take “radical action” to cut complaints backlog
The Law Society has called on the Legal Ombudsman to take “radical action” to cut the growing backlog of complaints, saying progress in performance has been too slow to date.
Partner and law firm fined for breaching multiple undertakings
A partner and his law firm have each been fined after failing to deliver on 32 undertakings and confirmations within the agreed timescale – with six still outstanding five years after the transaction concluded.
AML crackdown needed on lawyers who enable kleptocrats
An overhaul of anti-money laundering legislation – including targeting professional enablers like lawyers – is needed if the UK is to create a “hostile environment for the world’s kleptocrats”.
Solicitor convicted of assaulting elderly mother suspended indefinitely
A solicitor found guilty of assaulting his elderly mother with a pan has been indefinitely suspended to allow him the chance to address his problems with alcohol.
LSB paves way for “remedial action” to ensure lawyers’ competence
Regulators of legal services must develop plans for “remedial action to address competence issues” among lawyers, according to a draft policy statement published today by the Legal Services Board.
Oversight regulator to put cost of PII under the microscope
The Legal Services Board is to launch a review of professional indemnity insurance to ensure “the right balance is struck” between protecting consumers and the cost of that protection.
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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