Latest news
Don’t exploit clients’ lack of knowledge about wills, SRA tells solicitors
Solicitors must not exploit clients’ lack of knowledge about wills for their own advantage, the SRA has warned. In a newly issued guidance note, the regulator said clients should not be led to believe that appointing a solicitor as executor was “essential or indeed the norm”.
Yorkshire Building Society “will not reconsider” ban on unrated insurers
Yorkshire Building Society has said it has “no present intention” of reconsidering a ban it has decided to impose on firms with unrated indemnity insurers, even though the Solicitors Regulation Authority last week decided against one.
Law Society set to recruit “harassment advisers” to protect staff from bullies
The Law Society’s ruling council will today consider whether a network of “harassment advisers” should be set up to crack down on bullying at Chancery Lane.
Comparison sites sign up to consumer panel’s good practice standards
Two comparison websites have become the latest to sign up to the groundbreaking good practice standards pioneered by the Legal Services Consumer Panel.
CMCs to pay up to £40,000 each to benefit from Legal Ombudsman
Claims management companies will have to pay a separate ‘Lord Chancellor’s complaints fee’ of up to £40,000 on top of their annual regulation fee with the shift in complaints handling from the Ministry of Justice to the Legal Ombudsman.
LSB to put heat under approved regulators over how they spend practising fees
The Legal Services Board is to tell the approved regulators that they must consult those they regulate about setting the level of practising fees beyond what is needed simply for regulation, it has emerged.
Withers bids to lure entrepreneurs with fixed-fee start-up kit and host of extras
Leading private client firm Withers has launched a programme including start-up legal advice and magazine subscriptions aimed at helping entrepreneurs grow and protect their businesses.
QASA set for further delay as barristers win permission to appeal
The introduction of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is likely to be delayed yet again after four barristers won permission to appeal against the dismissal of their judicial review application by the High Court in January.
Self-proclaimed entrepreneurial lawyers spearheading change
Solicitors who consider themselves entreprenerial are proving much more active in changing the way they practise law, new research has suggested. However, only 22% of those polled said they believed the introduction of ABSs was a “positive”.
Majority of respondents to SRA consultation backed ban on unrated insurers
The SRA has acknowledged that the majority of responses received to its consultation on banning unrated indemnity insurers favoured a ban. Of 31 responses, 18 were in favour and 13 against.
Blog
Why housing disrepair claims against councils have leapt by nearly 400%
Housing disrepair claims against councils have surged dramatically in recent years, with some areas reporting increases approaching a staggering 400%.
Client accounts: Opportunity, obligation and the risks in between
The profitability gap between well-run firms and the rest is not primarily a function of size, location or practice area – it is a function of financial management.
Motor finance – the FCA is more worried about banks than consumers
The Financial Conduct Authority’s motor finance redress scheme announced last week amounts to one of the largest ever consumer failures by the regulator.
