Compliance & Regulation
Solicitor rebuked after client’s appeal not submitted
A solicitor who failed to check that a criminal client’s appeal had been lodged at the Court of Appeal has been rebuked after it turned out that it had not been.
Three-way regulator co-operation leads to barrister being disbarred
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner has praised the BSB and SRA for their co-operation in shutting down an advice firm and having the barrister who supervised it disbarred.
Law firm fined £46k for AML control failures
A Coventry law firm has been fined more than £46,000 for failing to have proper anti-money laundering procedures in place, one of the largest such penalties to date.
Law firms “need WhatsApp policies” when advising asylum clients
WhatsApp has become the “preferred communications tool” for law firms handling asylum work, but most lack a “clear, written usage policy”, the SRA has said.
SRA ordered to pay costs after “flawed” ban on non-solicitor
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ordered the SRA to pay costs of £5,000 after bringing a “flawed and misconceived” case against a non-solicitor.
LSB entitled to withhold email addresses of staff
The Legal Services Board is entitled to withhold the email addresses of its board of directors and staff, the Information Commissioner’s Office has ruled in response to an FoI request.
Sham marriages solicitor is struck off
A solicitor who arranged sham marriages as an immigration lawyer while “falsely representing” to the Home Office that his own marriage was genuine, has been struck off.
Local authority solicitor who lied about care order struck off
A local authority solicitor who provided “false and misleading information” to colleagues over a period of 18 months about an application to discharge a child’s care order has been struck off.
LeO’s backlog “reflects scale of challenges”, chief ombudsman says
The backlog of almost 3,400 cases waiting to be investigated at the Legal Ombudsman “reflects the scale of the challenges” it faces, the chief ombudsman has said.
Complaints about the SRA rise by 29%
Complaints about the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s handling of cases rose by 29% last year, with the increase in interventions part of the reason.
Blog
The SRA’s client money reforms: good intentions, questionable execution
On the face of it, the SRA’s plans to tighten protections around client money sounds sensible. The detail, as ever, tells a more complicated story.
Recruitment, retention and reward in the legal accounts world
Understanding the legal finance market is important – not just for those actively involved in it day-to-day but also for leaders within law firms.
From ‘year zero’ to £6.5m – how a law firm found its second life
In 2018, I hit what I call ‘year zero’. On paper, Olliers Solicitors was a top-tier criminal defence firm but beneath the surface, I could see we were at a crossroads.
