Compliance & Regulation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has continued to flex its new fining powers by issuing a £5,000 penalty against a law firm for six years of anti-money laundering failures.

A solicitor already struck off in Ireland for a different offence has now been struck off in England and Wales after using one client’s money to pay another’s tax liability.

A partner in a large Midlands law firm, who tried to “trick” an elderly farmer out of part of his protected tenancy in the way he sent notices to quit, has been suspended for a year.

The insurer of London law firm Jirehouse – whose founder was jailed last year for fraud – has failed its ongoing bid to exclude liability for £6m in losses suffered by a client.

A solicitor who told clients that the Office of the Public Guardian was to blame for what were actually her own errors in registering lasting powers of attorney has been struck off.

The SRA has set out the fee caps it is planning to impose to prevent law firms handling financial product or services mis-selling claims from charging “excessive” fees.

A contact-centre worker at Irwin Mitchell, who led another law firm to believe she was acting in an employment matter against its client, has been banned from working for law firms.

The closure of 16 offices of the Metamorph Group by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has so far cost the profession £1.4m, it has emerged.

Lawyers and others face a future in which criminals can use artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT to enhance their ability to commit fraud, Europol has warned.

The Legal Services Board has firmly rebuffed suggestions that it is guilty of ‘overreach’ in doing more than just overseeing the performance of the frontline regulators.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is introducing tougher targets for its investigators in a bid to reduce delays in processing complaints about solicitors.

The Bar Standards Board said last night that it was assessing self-reports from barristers who say they will defy the cab-rank rule – but experts predict it will not take action until they do.

Two non-lawyers who between them misappropriated £1m from their respective law firms’ bank accounts have been banned from working in the profession.

An immigration solicitor secretly recorded by the BBC advising an undercover journalist how to obtain “fraudulent” evidence for a visa application has been struck off.

The cost of practising as a solicitor looks set to increase significantly this year after the SRA warned yesterday that it would be seeking more funding from the profession.