Compliance & Regulation
Legal aid fraud solicitor fails to set aside £5m judgment
A solicitor and her practice manager husband jailed for legal aid fraud have failed in their bid to set aside a default judgment for nearly £5m obtained by the Ministry of Justice.
City firm avoids order to pay out escrow funds due to prosecution risk
A major City law firm should not be ordered to pay into court $325m it is holding in an escrow account, because it risks being prosecuted in America if it does, the High Court has ruled.
Solicitor who “did not know” he was a partner is rebuked
A solicitor who said he did not know that he had been appointed a partner and compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) of his firm has been rebuked.
Solicitor fined for fly tipping and supervision failure
A solicitor who failed to supervise a caseworker he wrongly thought to be a barrister and also fly tipped legal documents containing client information has been fined.
Solicitor who left clients “high and dry” struck off
A solicitor left clients “high and dry” by failing to register their property purchases and pay stamp duty, while misappropriating some £175,000 of their money, a tribunal has found.
Solicitor failed to check whether jailed client wanted to sell property
A veteran solicitor did not confirm that his imprisoned client had given instructions to transfer a £300,000 property to his mother, with the client claiming after it happened that he knew nothing about it.
Solicitor fined for abusive call to client who’s also a relative
A solicitor was verbally abusive to a client and attempted to dissuade them from continuing a complaint against him, it has emerged – and the pair were related.
Partner lied to client about settlement that never was
A partner at leading regional firm Clarke Willmott has been struck off for lying to his client that settlement monies were on the way when he had not actually negotiated any settlement.
Solicitor struck off over falsified decree absolute
A solicitor who led a client to believe he was divorced after she falsified a decree absolute has been struck off. She also admitted having the client pay her in cash, rather than pay her firm.
Barrister suspended after appearing in court when unauthorised – again
An experienced barrister who appeared in two courts without having a practising certificate has been suspended for four months, having been fined twice in previous years for the same offence.
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.
