Latest news
Solicitor who used client account like a “piggy bank” is struck off
A solicitor who plundered her client account to meet her personal financial obligations and her ex-partner’s car debts has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
“Profound conflicts of interest”: US lawyers push back at ABS moves
Florida is set to be the next flashpoint over allowing alternative business structures in the US after lawyers in the state voted unanimously against moves to allow non-lawyer ownership.
Conveyancing giant told to improve communication after cyber-attack
The country’s largest conveyancing group has been told by its regulator to improve communication with clients in the wake of a paralysing cyber-attack this week.
“Significant weaknesses” in legal regulators’ approach to money laundering
There are “differing levels of achievement and some significant weaknesses” among the UK’s legal regulators in their approach to anti-money laundering, their oversight body has reported.
CA: Lawyers can be cross-examined in wasted costs applications
Judges have the power to direct cross-examination of a lawyer against whom a wasted costs order is sought, but it should be “very much the exception”, the Court of Appeal said yesterday.
“Lessons for other legal regulators” from Faculty Office review
The Legal Services Board has said other legal regulators could learn lessons from a highly critical review it has published on the Faculty Office, the regulator of notaries.
Not our job to help retired solicitors “sleep easy”, says SRA
It is not the job of the Solicitors Regulation Authority to help retired solicitors “sleep easy” by protecting them from historic negligence claims, its director of regulatory policy has warned.
Vos unveils group to help steer civil justice system into the future
The Master of the Rolls has named legal futurist Professor Richard Susskind as chair of a new high-powered group tasked with drawing a road-map for the civil justice system through the 2020s.
ABS aims to lead the field in horse-related legal work
An alternative business structure has been launched in Cheshire, specialising entirely in horse-related legal work. Many solicitors who deal with them “don’t have a clue about horses”, it said.
Commercial lawyer fined for providing banking facility to client
A solicitor at a commercial law firm in Cardiff has been fined £24,000 for recklessly providing a banking facility for a client over a period of almost two years.
Blog
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.
Linklaters’ chief growth officer takes the ‘blank sheet’ challenge
In the third and final part of this series, Lucy Murphy, chief growth officer at magic circle firm Linklaters, outlines her vision for the law firm of the future.
The ‘blank sheet’ challenge, part 2 – what would you do differently?
In the second part of this blog series, Shainul Kassam, managing director of small London firm Fortune Law, sets out how she would set up a law firm now.
