Compliance & Regulation
Solicitor rebuked for failures in compliance roles at ABS
A solicitor who held all the compliance roles at an alternative business structure owned by a non-lawyer has been rebuked for multiple failures under his watch.
Former justice minister urges opposition to planned BSB equality duty
Former justice minister Lord Wolfson KC has joined the voices opposing the Bar Standards Board’s plan to impose a new positive duty on barristers to act in a way that “advances” EDI.
Solicitor’s improper Covid letters aimed to push anti-vaccine campaign
A solicitor who sent overly aggressive and legally inaccurate letters before action as part of a campaign against the Covid vaccine has been fined £15,000.
Solicitor fined third of annual income for breach of undertaking
A solicitor who paid out money he was holding, having given an undertaking not to do so, has been fined a third of his annual income by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Birmingham Law Society attacks SRA’s ‘Robin Hood’ fines plan
More solicitors have attacked the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans for new fining guidance, rejecting its “Robin Hood” approach of calculating fines based on income.
AML overseer tells legal regulators to up their efforts
The body tasked with overseeing legal regulators’ anti-money laundering work said yesterday it was not seeing “the consistent, effective improvement we need”.
City solicitors lambast SRA’s plans for new fining regime
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s proposed reform of its fining powers is arbitrary, not fit for purpose, and inconsistent with its legal obligations, City solicitors have warned.
“Not a steady state period” – SRA extends chair’s term
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided to extend Anna Bradley’s term as chair for a further two years rather than recruit a replacement.
SRA ban for employed barrister jailed for rape
An employed barrister jailed for raping a woman he met on Tinder has been banned from working for law firms after he failed in his appeal.
Strike-off for solicitor who used client money to keep firm afloat
A sole practitioner who used client money to pay his law firm’s business costs, including the salaries of several family members who worked for him, has been struck off.
Blog
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.
The trade-off mid-sized firm partners think they’re making
Most of the partners I talk to describe the same tension. They want the firm to run efficiently and hit its numbers, but they also want their people to feel supported, developed and fairly treated.
Reports
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