Compliance & Regulation
Womble Bond partners fined over client account failures
A former partner at Womble Bond Dickinson has been fined for using the firm’s client account as a banking facility, as has a current partner who unwittingly took over after he left.
Solicitor used ‘rubber’ cheques to hide client money misuse
A solicitor who moved client funds around different accounts to hide the money he was taking for himself – and caused pay-outs from the SRA Compensation Fund – has been struck off.
SRA “may not allow” firms to recharge cost of negative interest rates
The Solicitors Regulation Authority may not allow solicitors to pass on to clients the cost of holding their money if negative interest rates become a reality, an official has suggested.
“Genius” solicitor struck off after threatening to “end the SRA”
A solicitor has been struck off after trying to intimidate an officer from the Solicitors Regulation Authority by saying he was “genius level talent” who would sue the officer and “end the SRA”.
Insurer fails in aggregation argument over partner’s multi-million pound thefts
The High Court has refused to aggregate as one claim various actions a Yorkshire law firm’s indemnity insurer is facing because of a multi-million pound fraud run by one of its partners.
Clients chose solicitor to be their “puppet” in dubious transaction
An immigration lawyer who made what he described as “huge money” by facilitating a dubious international finance transaction has been suspended indefinitely by a tribunal.
Solicitor suspended after struck-off brother takes blame
A solicitor who overcharged two estates by £275,000 has been struck off, but his partner – and younger brother – has avoided the same sanction after saying he was “too trusting”.
Prepare now for negative interest rates, law firms told
Law firms have been urged to change their retainers now so they can charge clients for holding their money, given the “possibility, if not likelihood” of negative interest rates.
Barrister avoids disbarment despite expenses fraud conviction
An employed barrister convicted of fraud after claiming expenses he was not entitled to has avoided being thrown out of the profession by a Bar disciplinary tribunal.
SRA puts consolidator into liquidation owing £17m
The 16-office law firm consolidator shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in August has been placed into liquidation owing creditors nearly £17m.
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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