Regulation
Solicitor jailed for stamp duty land tax fraud
A solicitor who falsified returns to HM Revenue & Customs so as to underpay stamp duty land tax and pocket the difference has been jailed for more than three years.
BSB more likely to raise complaints against minority ethnic barristers
Minority ethnic barristers remain more likely than their White counterparts to be subject to complaints raised by the Bar Standards Board, with men more likely than women, new research has shown.
Insurance giant’s ABS hit with fine for money laundering failure
The alternative business structure owned by global insurance services firm Crawford & Company has been fined for failing to confirm that it had a compliant anti-money laundering risk assessment.
Regulator intervenes over concern about “PII market failure”
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has had to intervene after two professional indemnity insurers offered firms cover that did not comply with its minimum terms.
Buckland welcomes new CILEX qualification after regulatory green light
The Lord Chancellor has welcomed the approval of the redesigned qualification that allows students without degrees to qualify as chartered legal executives with full practice rights.
LSB: Bar regulator “put interests of profession ahead of the public”
The Bar Standards Board places “a disproportionate weight on the impact of its work on the profession” and pays insufficient regard to the impact on the public, the Legal Services Board said today.
SQE will “move the bottleneck” from law schools to employers
The Solicitors Qualifying Exam will make it easier for people to qualify as solicitors but move the “bottleneck” to newly qualified roles, a leading academic and the training head of a major law firm have predicted.
Solicitor struck off after child pornography and cannabis convictions
A solicitor who received a suspended jail sentence after being convicted of making indecent images of children and producing cannabis has been struck off.
Solicitor jailed for GBH avoids being struck off
A young solicitor jailed for grievous bodily harm has escaped being struck off because of his genuine remorse and low likelihood of reoffending.
Lawyers should have to take competence tests “every 10 years”
Lawyers should have to take online tests every 10 years to prove that they remain competent in their specialist fields, the chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel said yesterday.
Blog
The ongoing rise and challenge of housing disrepair in council properties
Britain’s housing disrepair crisis has quietly evolved into one of the most consequential legal and political issues facing the country’s social housing sector.
Source of funds is where AML really gets tested
It’s a familiar story: a PDF of a bank statement lands in your inbox, your client leaves a cursory note explaining what some of the transactions mean, and you close the file.
Firms need to move faster on AI pricing
Law firms are trying to rethink pricing while still operating on business models fundamentally built around time.
