Latest news
Law Society condemns SRA plans for solicitor-free workplace training
The Law Society has condemned the Solicitors Regulation Authority over plans to allow workplace training for solicitors to take place in organisations without any solicitors. The society warned that the proposals could “seriously undermine” high standards.
Buyers have themselves to blame, not solicitors, over leaseholds, say conveyancers
Conveyancers have hit back at suggestions they should have prevented the scandal of new homes being sold as leasehold properties with rapidly escalating ground rents, which the government announced plans to ban last week.
Kennedys creates new route to partnership for employees with ideas
City law firm Kennedys has launched what could become a new route to partnership for members of staff who can dream up ideas for tech products to help clients. Prototypes from the Ideas Lab will be developed in India, before returning home for completion.
Partner struck off after settling PI claim for £5,000 then paying client £60,000 in fictitious damages
A partner has been struck off for dishonestly settling a personal injury claim for £5,000 without instructions, telling the client it had settled for £60,000, and then paying out the fictitious damages from unrelated client accounts.
“No reason” for sharp rise in interventions, SRA says
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has said it cannot explain why the number of interventions into law firms in the first five months of 2017 was twice the figure for the same period last year. The regulator said there was also a “noticeable increase” in the size of firm.
Bailiffs launch ABS “to capitalise on TV fame”
A firm of bailiffs made famous by a long-running TV series has launched an alternative business structure, in part to capitalise on the legal work that follows national exposure. DCB Legal Limited received its licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority earlier this month.
SDT strikes off solicitor for falsely claiming to work at former firm
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a senior solicitor for dishonestly holding himself out as working for his former firm and falsely stating that he had sent out fewer letters on the firm’s notepaper than he knew to be the case.
Family lawyer who confessed “within hours” to faking letter is fined £2,000
A solicitor who confessed to his law firm that he had faked a letter “within hours” of sending it to a client, has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Ian Giddings, based at the Warwick office of national family firm Woolley & Co, admitted creating and backdating the letter.
Survey: “conveyancer numbers fall while caseloads and efficiency grow”
More property transactions and fewer people doing the work have increased conveyancers’ caseloads, but amid mounting pressure their productivity has grown by 70% since 2012, according to a survey. Among other things, it found that in 2016 conveyancers were spending a day and a half less per case and doing one case a week more than four years earlier.
Cybercrime against law firms higher than ever, SRA says
Reports of cybercrime from law firms reached record levels in the first quarter of this year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. The figures are contained in the regulator’s latest Risk Outlook, which for the first time includes questionable investment schemes involving solicitors.
Blog
Mazur: a symptom not a cause?
If Mazur is a symptom, what does it mean for the underlying health of our civil justice system: the ‘finest legal system in the world’?
Cross-generation collaboration: the key to in-house legal tech adoption
In-house legal function leaders will increasingly have to evolve their thinking on how to manage multigenerational teams containing differing levels of technological expertise.
AI and law firm risk – the view of professional indemnity insurers
In considering law firm applications for cover, many insurers will expect to see evidence of how firms are adapting to AI and preparing for the future.
