Compliance & Regulation
Ban for police station representative who illicitly contacted jailed client
An experienced police station representative who communicated with a jailed client via a mobile phone he should not have had has been banned from the profession.
SRA sanctioned for wrongly publishing trainee’s ban
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has been sanctioned in costs after prematurely stating that it had banned a former trainee solicitor from working for law firms.
BSB performance in the red as LSB raises SRA enforcement concerns
Pressure on the Bar Standards Board to improve its performance ratcheted up today after it scored by far the worst of all the legal regulators in the Legal Services Board’s annual assessment.
Solicitor fined for handling follow-on property management work
A retired solicitor has been fined £7,500 for using client accounts as banking facilities over decades to handle property management work for Arab clients.
US lawyer urged clients to infect opposing counsel with “nasty disease”
A US lawyer advised his clients to have someone with Covid or another “highly infectious, nasty disease” lick and handle an envelope being sent to opposing counsel, it has emerged.
New Bar chair calls on Ministry of Justice to review LSB
The new chair of the Bar Council has called on the Ministry of Justice to review the Legal Services Board, prompting a tart response from the oversight regulator.
Legal regulators “need to work on building trust” with their communities
Legal regulators can reduce the amount of enforcement work they need to undertake if they can build enough trust that lawyers will approach them before things go wrong, an event has heard.
SRA hires competition specialist to drive strategy
A competition specialist is to join the Solicitors Regulation Authority as its new executive director for strategy and innovation, while the LSB’s policy chief is leaving to oversee bailiffs.
Solicitor shifted client money around to cover mistakes
A partner who used client funds to make payments for other clients – on occasion to hide the fact that they had been made subject to costs orders – has been struck off.
SRA can enforce costs order against solicitor struck off in 2010
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can finally enforce a £15,000 costs order against a struck-off solicitor more than 12 years after it was made, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled.
Solicitor agrees to quit roll until 2030 over report on title dishonesty
A solicitor who dishonestly amended a report on title to correct an error she had made more than two years earlier has agreed to remove herself from the roll until 2030 at the earliest.
CILEX backs move to grant members higher rights of audience
CILEX – the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives – has urged its regulator to press ahead with plans to seek the power to award higher rights of audience to members.
Scotland shies away from single legal regulator but backs ABSs
The Scottish government has chosen the least radical option for regulatory reform of the legal profession, rejecting the ideas of either a single or an oversight regulator.
Solicitor struck off after stringing along immigration clients for years
A solicitor who strung along two clients for several years that he had applied for their indefinite leave to remain in the UK when he had not has been struck off.
Foreign lawyer was duped by suspected fraudster to front firm
A registered foreign lawyer has been suspended for 18 months after being duped to front a law firm where likely fraudulent conveyancing transactions took place behind his back.
Blog
Why law firms are getting AI supervision wrong
The profession’s response to AI supervision failures misunderstands the nature of LLM output – there needs to be for a shift in the culture.
Beyond the PII premium – rethinking risk
Professional indemnity insurance renewal is often treated as an annual pricing exercise. But it is also a chance to show how effectively you identify, manage and mitigate risk.
The AI governance gap in law firms and why it matters now
A third of law firms are already using AI tools with no formal policy in place to govern how AI gets used, what data goes into it, or who’s accountable when something goes wrong.
Reports
Associates
