Solicitors
SRA and OISC make competing land-grabs for immigration work
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched a bid to regulate non-lawyer immigration advisers. However, at the same time the body that oversees them – the Office for the Immigration Services Commissioner – is seeking to take over the regulation of specialist lawyers.
Law firms to have extra year before publishing diversity data as LSB flags concerns over Bar exemptions
Law firms are to have an extra year before they must publish staff diversity data, after the Legal Services Board approved Solicitors Regulation Authority plans for a delay. But it was unhappy with the Bar Standards Board’s proposal to exempt chambers of fewer than 10 people.
18 solicitors sanctioned for money laundering breaches as Treasury warned over increased risks from ABSs
Eighteen solicitors were sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last year for breaches of anti-money laundering obligations, the Law Society has reported. It has also identified alternative business structures as among the increased risks of money laundering facing the profession.
Line of solicitors being marched through SDT for failure to pay insurance premiums
Fifteen solicitors have had sanctions imposed by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal – including indefinite suspensions – for failing to pay the premiums demanded while their firms were in the assigned risks pool, with 15 more still to face the tribunal.
Insolvency Service gives SRA a taste of its own medicine
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has had the tables turned after receiving a monitoring visit of its own from the Insolvency Service which then criticised the way it regulates solicitor insolvency practitioners.
Bar calls on judges to halt solicitor “abuse” of QASA
The Bar has called on judges to block solicitors appearing before them as plea-only advocates under the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates. There were also calls for action to end the “corrupt practice” of criminal defence solicitors demanding referral fees.
In-house lawyers to face tricky ABS decision
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to push ahead with changes to the SRA Handbook that will leave it to in-house lawyers to decide whether the law requires that their legal teams become alternative business structures.
SRA scraps minimum salary for trainees
The minimum salary for trainee solicitors will be scrapped on 1 August 2014, the board of the SRA decided yesterday, saying it is not the job of a regulator to control wages. Firms will be required to pay the national minimum wage of £6.08 an hour.
SRA set to delay COLP and COFA regime to 2013
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to delay the compliance officer regime, it has emerged. The scheme for compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and for finance and administration (COFAs) was due to go live on 1 November.
Law Society launches stinging attack on SRA plan for massive fining powers
Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to introduce multi-million pound fines for law firms are a “significant breach of Parliament’s intentions” and in any case wrong on policy grounds, the Law Society has claimed.
Blog
Five golden links for a caring Christmas and New Year
This time of year always sharpens thoughts about how we look after and support elderly clients and those, elderly or otherwise, who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances.
Amplifying reach through employee-driven thought leadership
Nine in 10 executives believe thought leadership is critical to building authority, yet only a quarter feel they have implemented a robust strategy.
Divorce escrow: asset sales before final settlement
When significant matrimonial assets are sold before a final financial order is agreed, holding the proceeds safely and neutrally can present real practical challenges.
