Regulation
Solicitor jailed for defrauding firm of £2.3m over seven years
A partner who defrauded his firm of £2.3m over seven years – some of which was done with the help of a client – has been jailed for four years and also struck off as a solicitor.
Solicitor rebuked for failing to report staff member’s conviction
A solicitor who failed to report that a fee-earner he employed had been convicted of an immigration offence has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Divorce firm looks to shake up field with fixed fee for whole process
A freelance solicitor has teamed up with a former KPMG partner to launch a divorce business that guarantees its fixed-fee quote for the whole process, including ancillary relief.
Solicitors fined for failing to prevent £3.3m property fraud
Two directors of an alternative business structure have been fined for not supervising a branch office where a fellow director and a bogus solicitor carried out a £3.3m property fraud.
SRA fines six firms for failing to provide AML compliance declaration
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published details of fines levied against six law firms for failing to confirm in time that they had a compliant anti-money laundering firm-wide risk assessment.
Signs of progress as courts support barrister’s childcare responsibilities
A barrister has spoken about her “really positive” recent experiences of courts accommodating “the practicalities and balancing acts being carried out by those with children”.
Solicitor who charged £9,000 for doing nothing is struck off
A solicitor who charged a client’s estate fees of over £9,000 during a period of “complete inactivity” has been struck off. He was both its executor and residuary beneficiary.
Licensed conveyancers review insurance scheme as market hardens
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has announced a review of its professional indemnity insurance arrangements in light of a hardening market for cover.
Bar Council urges limits to mitigation in sexual misconduct cases involving barristers
Issues such as provocation, spontaneity and whether an incident was a ‘one-off’ should not be factors that reduce sanctions for sexual misconduct by barristers, the Bar Council has urged.
Solicitor suspended for “complete dereliction of duty”
A solicitor who held nearly 1,500 historical client balances and whose failure to remedy accounts rule breaches was described as a “complete dereliction of duty”, has been suspended for two years.
Blog
The cost of systemic failure and childbirth injuries
Recent reports show that the NHS has paid almost £3.5bn in medical claims around childbirth injuries over the past six years.
Mazur: when regulators make simple things complicated
What the last six months have shown is that supervision cannot be treated as a background compliance obligation quietly managed somewhere in a firm’s operational processes.
How unstoppable AI is reshaping UK legal practice
At a time when most technology innovation still flows from the US and China, UK lawtech is attracting growing international attention and capital.
