Compliance & Regulation

A solicitor jailed for conspiracy to commit property frauds has now been struck off, while issuing a statement from prison that he would maintain his innocence “until my demise”.

A malicious cyber-attack on the Bar Standards Board a month ago – for the fourth time in a year – has proved “catastrophic” for the regulator, a meeting of its governing board heard yesterday.

The Supreme Court has upheld the principle that costs should only be awarded against the Solicitors Regulation Authority in unsuccessful prosecutions where there is good reason to do so.

A male City partner who added to a female trainee’s discomfort at being taken to a strip club during a work event by putting his arm around her waist has been rebuked.

A veteran solicitor has been fined for administering her family’s finances through her firm’s client account over 18 years and using it “as an overdraft facility for her family”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to press ahead with plans to expand its fining powers from the current maximum of £2,000 to £25,000 and introduce fixed penalties for low-level offences.

A former general counsel has been fined for failing to disclose his interest in instructing an external firm and his links with a solicitor he then recommended to that firm.

A national legal support and information service for small businesses, akin to Citizens Advice, would help bridge a “significant access to justice gap”, the Legal Services Board says today.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal rejected a lower fine for high-profile solicitor Karen Todner, in part because she was the tribunal’s vice-president at the time of her misconduct.

A male barrister who sexually assaulted a female colleague and then asked her to lie to help him cover his tracks with his partner has won his appeal against disbarment.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to investigate a “clear breach” of its recent guidance over SLAPPs, lawyers for the founder of investigative website Bellingcat have said.

A solicitor has been rebuked for taking referrals from a genealogy business that acquired clients in a way that a law firm would be prohibited from doing.

A solicitor who has failed to pay thousands of pounds in outstanding fees to counsel has been fined by the SRA, with others fined for accounts and transparency rules breaches.

A former paralegal at national law firm BLM has been jailed for three years and three months after pleading guilty to stealing £438,000 from the firm to feed his gambling habit.

MPs and peers have called for “a radical overhaul” of anti-money laundering supervision, with regulators of lawyers urged to issue wrongdoers with “bigger, more public” fines.