Practice Management
In-house training institute aims to transform “digital laggards”
A not-for-profit training institute for in-house lawyers is aiming to transform those often portrayed by other staff as “digital laggards” into digital leaders.
Sweary senior partner wins damages reassessment
An employment tribunal has been ordered to reconsider the £47,000 in damages that it awarded to a paralegal subjected to foul-mouthed tirades by the senior partner of a London law firm.
McFarlane clears way for more remote family hearings
The president of the Family Division has cleared the way for more remote hearings, including those where parents and children appear as witnesses, by revising the guidance for judges.
Most Scottish solicitors report mental health problems
Most solicitors and their staff north of the border have experienced mental health problems, a major survey by the Law Society of Scotland and mental health charity See Me has found.
SRA to press ahead with launch of SQE in autumn 2021
The Covid-19 crisis will not stop the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam in September 2021, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said as it published the exam’s final design.
Judge: Investor who lost pension was not law firm’s client
A man who lost his pension after investing in self-storage pods with disastrous results was not the client of the law firm who advised on it, a judge has held.
More funding for platform that “lets lawyers express themselves visually”
A start-up created by an ex-City lawyer to help lawyers and clients visualise complex legal structures and transactions is in a new funding round having already raised £2m.
Remote hearings “can deal with credibility issues”
People should not presume that remote hearings cannot be used for cases where the credibility of witnesses is at stake, the IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice has said.
“You get noticed” – being a BAME female lawyer
There are “real pros and cons” to being a solicitor from a black and minority ethnic (BAME) background, a senior regulatory lawyer has said.
Solicitor and firm sanctioned over property work
A law firm earned some £800,000 in fees on three failed property development schemes as well as ‘quick sale’ conveyancing where it acted for both sides, a tribunal has heard.
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.
