Solicitors

An “shameless” woman who abused her position at solicitors’ firms to fraudulently gain more than £700,000 has been jailed for three and a half years. Caprice Chaneele Lindo, 40, of Bradford, pleaded guilty to money laundering and eight counts of fraud at a previous hearing.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is planning not only to combine its two law firm panels into one, but also to give all the legal work involved to a single firm, Legal Futures understands – leaving solicitors who have acted for decades as prosecutors out in the cold and questioning whether the regulator is taking the wrong approach.

City firm Clyde & Co has been fined £50,000 – the largest penalty issued against a law firm – and three of its partners £10,000 each for allowing its client account to be used as a banking facility and breaching anti-money laundering rules.

A senior partner who was found by an employment tribunal to have discriminated against, harassed and victimised a former equity partner at his firm, has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which found his culpability to be “low” as his behaviour had “just crossed the line into discrimination”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has dismissed Law Society concerns about disciplinary sanctions imposed on a law firm that paid referral fees to a domestic violence charity. It pointed out that the actions of leading legal aid firm Duncan Lewis were clear breaches of the SRA Handbook.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has closed down controversial Bolton law firm Asons shortly after it ceased trading and was sold to another practice, it emerged yesterday. Meanwhile, a set of accounts for the first six months of Asons’ current financial year indicated that it was turning around the previous year’s poor performance.

The Legal Services Board is to review the conduct of the Law Society since autumn 2014 to determine whether Chancery Lane interfered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s independence, it has emerged. The wide scope of the investigation indicates that the board will dig deep into the society’s internal workings.

There is a risk that the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans for education reform will do little to disrupt the privilege of students with access to funding and other advantages, according to an independent report commissioned by the regulator.

A respected solicitor who took £4m from her clients – and also stole Church of England cash in her role as registrar with the Diocese of Wakefield – has been jailed for seven years. Linda Box, who is 67, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud, two of forgery and one of theft.

A solicitor who used and paid a struck-off solicitor in his practice, submitted false costs claims to defendant insurers and was also sanctioned by the Football Association for his work as a player’s agent, has accepted a £2,000 fine from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.