Latest news
SRA: Client account “still on reform agenda”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has not kicked changes to client account – and the interest solicitors earn on it – into the long grass, its chair warned solicitors yesterday.
Legal regulators unhappy at loss of AML role to FCA
Regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority for anti-money laundering will feel “very different” for law firms, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s chief executive has predicted.
Philip: I thought about resigning in wake of SSB report
The chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority said yesterday that he did consider resigning in the wake of the report on SSB Law but decided that “it wasn’t the right thing”.
Mazur “the inadvertent result” of Legal Services Act drafting
The Mazur ruling likely came about because the Legal Services Act 2007 inadvertently failed to codify what had been custom in the legal profession for a long time, two experts have argued.
FCA to take over anti-money laundering supervision of all lawyers
The Financial Conduct Authority is to take over responsibility for supervising lawyers’ anti-money laundering activities, the government announced today.
Home Office-funded collective action wins approval
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has granted the first public sector collective proceedings order, with the Home Office as litigation funder and largest class member.
“Cowardly” solicitor lied to client about claim for over 10 years
A self-confessed “cowardly” solicitor who lied to a client for more than 10 years after her medical negligence claim was thrown out has been struck off.
“Decisive reform” needed to restore public trust after SSB scandal
The collapse of SSB Law and the SRA’s failures in supervising it demand “decisive reform” to restore public confidence, the Legal Services Consumer Panel has warned.
Lack of training grants “increases risk” of duty solicitor collapse
The lack of training grants for aspiring criminal defence solicitors “risks entrenching the current trajectory toward collapse” of the scheme, an academic has argued.
PE-backed firm set to move outside of injury work for first time
A private equity-backed serious injury firm is to move into other consumer law services for the first time with an “imminent” acquisition, Legal Futures can reveal.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
