Property
“Fast conveyancing” firm meets accelerated target 80% of the time
A law firm that promises home movers “fast conveyancing” has told Legal Futures that it meets its targets for accelerated exchanges 80% of the time.
Solicitor breached undertaking and loaned client cash to correct it
A solicitor who paid away proceeds of a property sale in breach of an undertaking and then loaned the client the money to make up the shortfall, has been fined for misconduct.
Assistant solicitor fined for costly undertaking failures
An assistant solicitor whose failure to comply with an undertaking in a property transaction cost his firm’s insurer £440,000 has been fined £5,500.
Legal market’s strong growth in 2024 set to continue this year
The UK legal services market grew by 10% to £52bn last year and is heading towards a strong 2025 too, according to new research.
SDT: Solicitor gave undertaking even if he did not call it one
An assurance given by a solicitor in a conveyancing transaction was an undertaking, even if he did not use the word, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled.
£86m of client money went through in-house solicitor’s personal account
An elderly in-house solicitor who handled reserved legal work without authorisation, and used his personal bank account to process £86m of client money, has agreed to leave the profession.
Law firm avoids tribunal referral over PEP due diligence failures
A law firm that failed to conduct proper anti-money laundering checks while acting for a politically exposed person has been fined £25,000.
Law Society research highlights its TA6 failures
The extent of the Law Society’s misjudgement in last year’s launch of the updated TA6 property information form has been laid out by research it commissioned.
Conveyancers warned over amending contracts ahead of SDLT deadline
Conveyancers have been warned over efforts to amend agreed conditions of sale to take into account the possibility of not completing before SDLT changes.
Court allows City giant to progress ex-client’s claim on assignment
A major City law firm can continue bringing a case it took on assignment from former clients which could mitigate a possible professional negligence claim.
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.
