Compliance & Regulation
Only 11% of law firms “likely to pay” new FOS complaint fee
Only one in 10 law firms handling financial services mis-selling matters will have to pay the new £250 case fee to the Financial Ombudsman Service, it has estimated.
BSB chief: Barristers must be “circumspect” in exercising free speech
Barristers must be “circumspect” in exercising their free speech when speaking about controversial matters, the director general of the Bar Standards Board has said.
Partner struck off for misleading clients about state of claim
A partner who misled his clients for two years about the status of their claim – leading them to believe it had been issued when it had not been – has been struck off.
LeO halves amount of time that staff need to be in office
The Legal Ombudsman is bucking the wider trend of requiring staff to spend more time in the office and is instead halving it to the equivalent of one day a week.
Law Society and Bar Council attack LSB’s “huge” budget hike
The Law Society and the Bar Council have strongly attacked plans by the Legal Services Board to increase its budget by 14% to over £6m for the year ahead.
Solicitor “cannot complain” to JCIO about judge’s criticism
The High Court has rejected a solicitor and his client’s bid to challenge the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office’s refusal to entertain their complaints about three Court of Appeal judges.
SRA issues sanctions for breaches of undertakings
The SRA yesterday handed out a fine and a rebuke for breaching undertakings, one relating to property transactions and the other to a divorce matter.
BSB: No need for “anxiety” over barrister training standards
The evidence “does not support anxiety about standards” for qualifying as a barrister, despite rising numbers seeking to do so, the Bar Standards Board has said.
Lawyers and regulators oppose 10% rise in LeO’s budget
The profession has come out strongly against Legal Ombudsman plans for a 10% budget hike, arguing that throwing more money at it has not worked to date.
Director and law firm fined £50,000 for multiple compliance failures
The director of a law firm and the firm itself have each been fined £25,000 for a series of compliance failures, including widespread accounts rule breaches and anti-money laundering shortcomings.
Blog
Why law firms are getting AI supervision wrong
The profession’s response to AI supervision failures misunderstands the nature of LLM output – there needs to be for a shift in the culture.
Beyond the PII premium – rethinking risk
Professional indemnity insurance renewal is often treated as an annual pricing exercise. But it is also a chance to show how effectively you identify, manage and mitigate risk.
The AI governance gap in law firms and why it matters now
A third of law firms are already using AI tools with no formal policy in place to govern how AI gets used, what data goes into it, or who’s accountable when something goes wrong.
Reports
Associates
