Compliance & Regulation

A solicitor who shuffled around client account money to prop up his firm – leaving a hole of at least £230,000 and charities out of money bequeathed to them – has been struck off.

An SRA with “beefed up” powers should be the single body policing money laundering across the UK legal sector, which currently enjoys “near impunity” from breaching the rules.

An experienced solicitor has been struck off for taking advantage of the widow of a deceased solicitor after being instructed to wind up his practice and deal with his estate.

The lead counsel to the Post Office Horizon Inquiry last week made clear that the role of lawyers, “some of them senior”, will be put under scrutiny in the coming months.

The legal profession is “drawing the ethical boundaries in the wrong place” in its dealings with corrupt kleptocrats and oligarchs, and risks having reforms imposed on it as a result.

Many ethnic minority consumers of legal services do not feel they are being listened to or understood by their lawyers, research for the Legal Services Consumers Panel has found.

A law firm which acted for both sides in a property transaction without obtaining their consent has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Legal Services Board has launched an investigation into the disputes between CILEX and its regulatory arm, saying there has been a “breakdown of trust” between the two.

A senior business development executive who misled her law firm employer that its Legal 500 submissions had been made is among bans from the profession issued to City firm staff.

A solicitor convicted of seven counts of fraud, involving goods worth £10,600 – including fireworks and tickets for the Grand National – has been struck off.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has put aside up to £550,000 to give staff a one-off pay boost to help with the cost-of-living crisis, it has emerged.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is facing “challenges” in retaining staff in its anti-money laundering team, in part because it cannot compete with private sector salaries.

A solicitor who gave 115 clients the wrong advice about the ground rent provisions in the leases of properties they were buying – because of an incorrect precedent – has been fined £15,000.

The Bar Standards Board is to step up efforts to encourage more reporting of bullying and harassment but says ultimately the onus is on the Bar to change its culture.

There is “no real appetite” among consumer law firms for an accreditation scheme or other recognition denoting the quality of their transparency, a report has found.