Compliance & Regulation

Deeper checks of law firm owners and the ability to bring criminal prosecutions are among the powers proposed for the FCA once it takes over supervising lawyers’ AML activities.

The High Court is set to decide on whether the Solicitors Regulation Authority has the power it claims to examine legally privileged material as part of investigations.

A solicitor accused of dishonestly seeking more costs than his client was entitled to claim has been cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The fee-earner at the heart of the Mazur ruling is a ‘senior litigation executive’ who was suspended indefinitely as a solicitor 17 years ago, the SRA has revealed.

A solicitor who lied to his client, his law firm, the Home Office and an MP after failing to make submissions in an asylum claim has been struck off.

A centralised ‘risk and intelligence hub’ should be created and accessible to all regulators to flag up law firms showing early signs of systemic failure.

The Mazur ruling is further evidence of “a growing case for re-examining the legislative foundations of legal services regulation”, the Ministry of Justice has said.

The Legal Ombudsman has recommended a £2.4m, or 12.1%, increase in its budget for next year to cope with fast-rising levels of complaints and conduct a radical review of how it operates.

A junior solicitor at a leading City law firm who lied about his academic achievements on a pupillage application when trying to move to the Bar has been struck off.

The first chartered legal executive with standalone litigation practice rights could be authorised in six weeks’ time, with around 2,300 expected to apply for them in the next 18 months.