Compliance & Regulation

The first solicitor prosecuted for ‘tipping off’ a client about a money laundering investigation has now been suspended for allowing a client to use his firm’s account as a banking facility.

A deputy district judge who took nearly three years to hand down a judgment would have been removed from office had she not resigned, according to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Innovation sandboxes, mandatory regulation of paralegals and new sources of funding – like interest on client accounts – are among ideas of how regulation can improve access to justice.

Both the Law Society and Bar Council have criticised their regulatory arms over the LSB’s assessment that their performance was inadequate and needed urgent improvement.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s investigation into the former lawyers of Russian warlord Evgeny Prigozhin was “supine”, a leading media lawyer has argued.

The two largest legal regulators – the SRA and BSB – are the only ones to fail their performance assessments over the past year, the Legal Services Board revealed today.

The journalist at the centre of the row over the SRA’s decision not to take action against the former solicitors of a Russian warlord has accused the regulator of shirking its responsibilities.

The narrow focus of the AML regime on criminality leaves solicitors “free to facilitate and legitimise the flow of corrupt capital while staying within the bounds of the law”, says a major report.

Tax lawyers face more reports by HMRC to their regulators and the cloak of legal professional privilege being pierced under government plans unveiled yesterday.

The High Court has issued a freezing order against the non-lawyer owner of a law firm the SRA shut down last year, at the behest of the solicitor who sold it to her.