Latest news
Jailed solicitor must repay £3m or face more prison time
A jailed solicitor involved in the UK’s biggest ever tax fraud must repay £3m of his ill-gotten gains or face a further nine years in prison, a judge at the Old Bailey has ruled.
F4L unveils referral fee-compliant ‘pay per enquiry’ model
Marketing collective First4Lawyers has unveiled a new lead generation model that it says allows firms to pay a fee per enquiry while complying with the referral fee ban.
SRA writes to 6,500 firms over AML assessments
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has written to 6,500 law firms asking them to make a declaration that they have a firm-wide risk assessment complying with the anti-money laundering regulations.
Solicitor failed to funnel fees through virtual firm
A solicitor who took client payments into his own bank account rather than through the virtual law firm he worked for has agreed to leave the profession for at least five years. The firm lost £50,000 as a result.
LeO asks for another £2.4m to “eliminate” waiting time
The Legal Ombudsman is seeking to increase its budget by 20% in the next financial year to “radically” improve the time it takes to deal with complaints and “eliminate all unnecessary waiting time”.
MoJ’s bill for part-time judges’ pensions “could reach £1bn”
The Ministry of Justice – whose budget has faced major cuts over the past decade – faces having to pay up to £1bn in pensions for part-time judges, according to the claimants’ solicitors.
Newly listed law firm raises £31m for growth plan
The seventh law firm to list – although it describes itself as an asset management consultancy – raised £31.4m as its shares began trading last week. MJ Hudson had a market capitalisation of £98m.
Bar Council chair: I’m no apologist for Chinese regime
The chairman of the Bar Council has hit back at criticism of his attendance at a Chinese legal conference that did not address human rights in the country, saying he was “not an apologist for the Chinese regime”.
Jail for solicitor who stole money from friends
A solicitor who stole thousands from friends he acted for and laundered money stolen from a grandmother has been jailed.
Gateley bolsters HR offering with £3.4m acquisition
Listed law firm Gateley has hit the acquisition trail once more, spending £3.4m on another HR business to help create “one of the largest specialist human capital consultancy businesses in the UK”.
Blog
Santa’s Costa Living Crisis
It’s almost 25 December, so it must be time for the annual Christmas blog from Nigel Wallis, consultant solicitor at O’Connors Legal Services.
Five golden links for a caring Christmas and New Year
This time of year always sharpens thoughts about how we look after and support elderly clients and those, elderly or otherwise, who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances.
Amplifying reach through employee-driven thought leadership
Nine in 10 executives believe thought leadership is critical to building authority, yet only a quarter feel they have implemented a robust strategy.
