Compliance & Regulation
QC criticises “partisan” City law firm over advice given to RICS
A QC has heavily criticised City law firm Fieldfisher over the advice it gave the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) during a governance crisis.
£50k fine for partner at leading firm who “recreated” letters
An equity partner at a leading law firm who recreated documents he thought had been sent, but passed them off as copies of the originals, has been fined £50,000.
Jail for lawyer who defrauded employers of £600,000
A lawyer who defrauded the Commonwealth Secretariat and law firm Cooley out of over £600,000 has been jailed for seven and a half years.
Treat personal mitigation “with caution” in cases of sexual misconduct
Personal mitigation needs to be treated with “caution” in the context of sexual misconduct, discrimination and harassment, draft new guidance on disciplining barristers warns.
Law firm was akin to “slow-motion car crash”, tribunal finds
A law firm owner’s failures turned his practice into a “complete shambles” which was “akin to a slow-motion car crash occurring over a number of years”, the SDT has found.
Post Office scandal inquiry urged to put more focus on the lawyers
The inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal has been urged to put more focus on the role of lawyers in perpetuating the organisation’s intransigence over the IT system’s problems.
Barrister apprenticeships a “viable option”, specialist argues
Apprenticeships are a “viable option” to qualification as a barrister, but they would need collaboration between the Bar Standards Board, education providers and the Bar, a new paper has argued.
Leading firm rebuked for letting £21m pass through client account
A leading south-coast law firm that allowed its client account to be used as a banking facility, with £21m passing through it, has been rebuked.
CLC presses ahead with ‘polluter pays’ rule for ombudsman costs
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is pressing ahead with its plan to introduce a ‘polluter pays’ element to how it recovers the cost of the Legal Ombudsman from those it regulates.
Solicitor threatened law firm in bid to have it withdraw complaint
A solicitor threatened his former law firm with blowing the whistle on alleged breaches of its legal aid contract in a bid to have it withdraw a complaint about him, it has emerged.
Blog
Reorientation in the AI era must begin with the client
Much of the discussion about AI in the legal industry focuses on technology: which tools to adopt and which tasks might get automated. But this misses the deeper story.
Awaab’s Law phase 2: New hazards council tenants can now claim for
The conversation on housing disrepair is moving beyond damp and mould alone. With the rollout of phase 2 of Awaab’s Law, the scope of issues covered is expanding significantly,
Beyond PCP: Can regulators and lawyers work better together next time?
Nearly a decade after the Financial Conduct Authority began investigating the car finance industry, the story of the PCP commission scandal is still unfinished.
