Solicitors

A law firm referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by the Court of Appeal earlier this year has been shut down by the regulator. Neumans, a City firm specialising in criminal law, had a further office in Manchester, and, according to the Law Society website, employed 20 solicitors before it was shut yesterday.

The former clients of a solicitor whose dishonesty left them in what a High Court judge described as a ‘Kafkaesque’ situation that wrongly led to their bankruptcy, have seemingly reached the end of the road in seeking legal restitution.

Legal regulators have responded cautiously to the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations on price transparency, pledging to pilot regulatory requirements and test their effects on the lawyers and firms they regulate. They promised to implement controversial measures to encourage lawyers to publish prices if possible.

A solicitor who deliberately broke professional rules by releasing confidential client files so as to help convict a murderer has agreed to leave the law. He signed up to a regulatory settlement agreement with the Solicitors Regulation Authority to avoid a likely strike-off by a disciplinary tribunal.

The focus on Brexit should not hold back regulatory reform in the legal sector, leading market observer Professor Stephen Mayson has urged, countering calls by the Law Society for the government to put it aside to focus on leaving the EU.

The practising certificate fee for solicitors is set to fall 4% this year, but the saving will be largely wiped out by an increase in contributions to bolster the Solicitors Compensation Fund ahead of an expected rise in claims arising from their involvement in fraudulent investment schemes.

A London solicitor who took confidential information from defunct London firm Davenport Lyons to his new employer without client consent has been rebuked and fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The regulatory settlement agreement means he will not have to face a disciplinary tribunal.

Law firm compliance officers and money laundering reporting officers have been scrambling to get to grips with the biggest shake-up in anti-money laundering rules in a decade, with the final regulations – which were only published on Thursday – coming into force today.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has today shut down Bolton firm Coops Law, less than three months since it took over the practice of controversial practice Asons, which was also closed down by the regulator.

The High Court has overturned a finding of dishonesty made by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal against a prominent solicitor because the allegation was not tested during the hearing. The case also saw the president of the Queen’s Bench Division, Sir Brian Leveson, insist that honesty and integrity are not synonymous.