Solicitors

New requirements for reporting rule breaches to the Solicitors Regulation Authority have been approved by the Legal Services Board. The changes include a new ‘early investigation’ rule.

International standards for lawyers advising on offshore commercial structures have been put forward at the same time as parliamentarians called for stronger laws on foreign ownership of UK property.

An experienced partner has been struck off after dishonestly drawing on hundreds of thousands of pounds of client money to top up private investments, and then covering it up with fake documents.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a solicitor whose conduct in a sensitive child contact case it described as “atrocious”. He was “motivated by his desire to cover up his incompetence”.

The boss of a high street law firm who paid over £1.5m in staff salaries from client account over more than five years has agreed to leave the profession. She blamed salary software for what happened.

An experienced solicitor who tried to save an elderly client the cost of updating her power of attorney by dishonestly purporting to have witnessed it seven years earlier, has been struck off.

A dubious ‘hotel room’ investment scheme involving a law firm cost nearly 900 investors up to £52m, a decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has revealed.

The president of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has outlined his opposition to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s campaign for greater powers to fine errant solicitors.

The president of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has warned practitioners that they cannot just “vent their spleen” on social media with impunity without risking consequences for their careers.

The SRA has referred 26 firms offering trust and company services to its disciplinary team after a review said a “significant minority” of practices were failing to do enough to tackle money laundering.