Property
Investigation raises doubts about rigour of Law Society’s CQS
Seven in 10 law firms fined for anti-money laundering breaches in recent months have Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation, raising serious questions about how it is checked and enforced.
City partner “erroneously” paid out £2.2m to developer client
A partner at DWF has been fined £14,000 for wrongly approving £2.2m in payments to a developer which later went bust, leaving the firm to recompense out-of-pocket buyers.
Solicitor who worked for three firms at same time struck off
A locum solicitor whose timesheets claimed for the same time from two different firms – while employed full-time at a third – has been struck off.
Property lawyers attack “punitive” AML fining regime
The “punitive” fining regime for anti-money laundering rule breaches operated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has left lawyers feeling “fearful”.
Land Registry to publish law firms’ “avoidable” requisition rates
HM Land Registry is to publish data this autumn showing the number of avoidable requisitions it has to raise with every conveyancing firm.
Stamp duty deadline pushed conveyancing fees to “all-time high”
Conveyancing fees hit an “all-time high” in the first quarter of this year in the run-up to the stamp duty deadline, with the average figure up by almost 12% on the same period last year.
Conveyancers “should advise on liability from climate risks”
Solicitors should advise clients in property transactions on the potential liability they face from “climate risks”, the Law Society has said in new guidance.
Confusion reigns after property information guidance withdrawn
The withdrawal of the material information guidance for estate agents was met last week with a mixture of confusion, alarm and celebration by lawyers.
Law firm takes assignment of client’s claim after pay out
A law firm that paid out £750,000 to a buyer client over an error on a property transaction has taken assignment of its claim against the seller.
Jail for property solicitor who defrauded own firm of £160k
A long-serving property solicitor who defrauded a Hereford law firm out of £160,000 by diverting disbursement payments into her own bank account has been jailed for 30 months.
Blog
From AI ambition to operational reality
AI is no longer an emerging technology on the horizon. It has become the connective tissue binding law, regulation, risk and commercial decision-making.
From text to world: The legal significance of multimodal AI
The next phase of AI, already underway, will integrate text with vision, sound, motion and even touch. This will produce systems that no longer ‘read about’ the world but perceive it.
The new leaders of law
Where once many law firm owners remained technology sceptics, a growing number are now shaped by leaders who are digitally fluent and commercially oriented.
