Compliance & Regulation
SDT finds City lawyer guilty over obsession with teenage colleague
A City lawyer who shared intimate pictures with a teenage apprentice and ogled her as she spread her legs in a swivel chair in the office was found guilty of multiple charges of misconduct last week.
SRA “spent three years deciding not to take regulatory action”
It took the Solicitors Regulation Authority three years to decide not to take regulatory action against a solicitor, it has emerged.
Cost of practising to rise sharply as SRA and Law Society unveil budgets
Solicitors’ practising fees are set to increase substantially this year, with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Law Society needing an extra £9.3m to fund their work.
Partner was “blinded” by desire to keep best client
A solicitor who described a property developer currently being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office as his law firm’s “best client” has been fined £45,000 for misconduct.
Former solicitor with unpaid SDT fine cannot return to profession
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled that a struck-off solicitor, who had still not paid £2,700 of a fine it imposed for a previous offence in 2011, cannot return to the profession.
Jailed solicitor’s fraud has cost profession £2.7m so far
The SRA Compensation Fund has paid out over £2.7m to clients of the law firm operated by Christopher Michael Bilmes, a solicitor jailed for fraud last month.
Male partner fined £23k for lewd song directed at female trainee
A male partner who sang a song about a trainee solicitor’s vagina, accompanied by lewd gestures, at a Christmas party gathering in a pub has been fined £23,000.
Post Office scandal highlights risk of lawyers “absorbing client’s view”
The Post Office scandal highlights the dangers of lawyers absorbing and reflecting back their client’s view “without sufficient independence and critical detachment”.
SRA bans Court of Protection fee-earner and rebukes her supervisor
A fee-earner who failed to manage a vulnerable client’s affairs properly – using her own money to cover her errors – and the partner who supervised her have both been sanctioned.
Axiom founder loses appeal over 14-year fraud sentence
Timothy Schools, the struck-off solicitor jailed for 14 years last summer for pocketing at least £20m from the Axiom Legal Financing Fund, has failed in a bid to reduce his sentence.
Managers need to challenge bad office behaviour “immediately”
Law firm managers who witness unfair treatment should intervene immediately to stop it if possible, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.
Solicitor fined over conflict of interest in SDLT avoidance schemes
A partner who acted for property purchasers and lenders and failed to tell the latter that the former were using stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes has been fined.
LSB looks to beef up regulatory response to misuse of NDAs
The need for a “strengthened and harmonised regulatory approach” to tackle the misuse of non-disclosure agreements is being probed by the Legal Services Board.
Partner struck off for dishonesty over expenses claims
A partner who tried to “obfuscate his charging of personal expenses” to clients of international firm Reed Smith has been struck off.
City law firm accused of “untenable” Post Office conflict of interest
Herbert Smith Freehills was yesterday accused of being in an “untenable” conflict of interest with its continued role in the Post Office scandal compensation schemes.
Blog
Why upfront information could transform home buying
The success of upfront property information will depend on more than simply making the information available.
AI risk: What law firms must now demand from vendors
AI systems ingest, transform, infer and generate. Treating them as equivalent to document storage or workflow tools is a category error.
Why mid-sized firms are the most interesting story in UK legal right now
Mid-sized law firms are facing a set of decisions about structure, technology and growth that will define where they sit in the market for the next decade.
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