Other lawyers
Firms line up to help develop probate apprenticeship
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has given the green light to a 10-firm consortium led by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers to develop a specialist probate apprenticeship.
Parliament gives green light to open up probate and conveyancing rights
The House of Lords yesterday gave the final go-ahead for chartered legal executives and others with appropriate expertise to offer probate and conveyancing services without the supervision of solicitors.
MoJ rejects any form of regulation for will-writing in wake of LeO call
The Ministry of Justice has made it clear that it is not in favour of any form of regulation for will-writing, following calls by LeO for a voluntary ombudsman scheme. It said “other options should be explored first
LeO calls for voluntary wills and probate ombudsman scheme
The chief legal ombudsman, Adam Sampson, has called on the government to extend its jursidction to unregulated will-writing and probate providers – while also highlighting continued shortcomings among regulated providers.
March of the accountants, part 2: ICAEW announces first ABS licence
Top-20 firm Kingston Smith has become the first accountancy firm to be licensed as an alternative business structure by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to carry out probate work.
LSB: accountant will investigate PC fee spending
The Legal Services Board is to hire an external accountant to examine how the Law Society and other regulators spend money raised through compulsory practising certificate fees.
LSB supports fee-charging McKenzie Friends – with safeguards
The Legal Services Board said yesterday that it supports recognition of fee-charging McKenzie Friends as a “legitimate feature of the evolving legal services market”, but also called for safeguards.
Government approves standards for legal apprenticeships
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has approved the standards for its new legal apprenticeships, allowing young people to qualify as solicitors, chartered legal executives, licensed conveyancers and paralegals through workplace-based training.
Last hurdle before accountants can offer probate services: a two-day course
Passing a two-day course will enable accountants to start offering probate law services to the public, after the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales yesterday officially received the power to regulate probate and licence alternative business structures.
Lord Chancellors should be legally qualified, Lord Judge says
Lord Judge, the former Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), has told peers that Lord Chancellors should have “some legal qualification”.
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.
