Latest news
Court of Appeal ruling sparks panic over motor finance claim deluge
The motor finance market has reacted with alarm to last week’s Court of Appeal ruling that lenders failed to clearly disclose commissions paid to car dealers.
Axiom Ince report: The full story of what went wrong at the SRA
The review of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s handling of Axiom Ince shows it missed an opportunity to uncover the fraud a year before it eventually shut the firm down.
Axiom Ince report: No law firm should go years without an SRA visit
Law firms should not go “many years” without receiving a visit from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Carson McDowell report for the Legal Services Board has recommended.
Criticism rains down on SRA but M&A controls spark worry too
Criticism of the Solicitors Regulation Authority poured in yesterday in the wake of the report into how it dealt with Axiom Ince, although the notion of more controls on M&A sparked concern.
Mental health challenges “costing large law firms millions”
Mental health challenges are costing large law firms millions of pounds every year and reducing productivity by 19%, a report has indicated.
SRA “should have done more” to prevent Axiom Ince, says LSB report
The SRA “did not take all the steps it could or should have taken” ahead of the collapse of Axiom Ince, the review commissioned by Legal Services Board declared today.
New private equity player enters market by buying Midlands law firm
Another private equity business has entered the legal market with a £30m pot to create a new group and has made Midlands firm FBC Manby Bowdler its first acquisition.
Leader of Essex coroner kidnap plot jailed for seven years
The leader of a plot based on pseudo-legal ideas to kidnap the Senior Coroner for Essex has been jailed for seven years, and the three people who helped him for two and a half years each.
Conveyancers spend nearly half their time chasing people
Conveyancers spend approaching half of their working day chasing other stakeholders or being chased by them, a report has found.
Law firm fails in bid to restrain litigation funder’s winding-up petition
A well-known sports law firm has failed to convince the High Court to restrain a litigation funder from advertising a winding-up petition over a loan it has not repaid.
Blog
Beyond PCP: Can regulators and lawyers work better together next time?
Nearly a decade after the Financial Conduct Authority began investigating the car finance industry, the story of the PCP commission scandal is still unfinished.
Accountability has to live within governance, not with one person
The assumption has long been that a COLP or COFA is personally exposed to the consequences of anti-money laundering breaches.
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.
