Compliance & Regulation

There have been “numerous scenarios” where banks have stopped solicitors working under government licences for those subject to UK sanctions by refusing to process transactions, the SRA has said.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is now investigating 29 cases where law firms might be involved in SLAPPs, it revealed yesterday as it issued a warning notice over such abusive litigation.

Seven apprentices at the first large law firm to run the training scheme – which takes six years and includes a law degree – have qualified as solicitors.

A law firm owner who admitted having “massive holes” in her knowledge of the accounts rules has been fined £5,000 after letting a £41,000 shortfall build up on client account.

A solicitor whose incompetence enabled the transfer of an elderly man’s property to fraudsters for no consideration has been struck off, even although it was a single incident in a 19-year career.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has used its enhanced fining power for the first time, imposing a £15,000 fine on a solicitor who failed clients subject to deputyship orders.

A barrister convicted of multiple child sex offences last year and jailed for three and a half years has now been disbarred. He did not know the children he had contacted were not real.

MPs have backed giving the Solicitors Regulation Authority unlimited fining powers in cases of economic crime, as well as a new regulatory objective for the Legal Services Act.

The Bar Council has taken the unusual step of criticising the Bar Standards Board for its “unacceptable and inexcusable” handling of a complaint against Dinah Rose KC.

Ten of the 40 law firms that took part in a Solicitors Regulation Authority review of immigration services have been referred for possible disciplinary action after it found “significant shortcomings”.

The Bar Standards Board has issued an apology to leading silk Dinah Rose for its handling of a complaint against her and suggesting she might have been reckless in her conduct.

The SRA’s guidance on disclosing confidential information “inappropriately discourages” lawyers from reporting serious misconduct and risks of harm, it has been claimed.

A solicitor convicted in the US of conspiracy to commit securities fraud has been struck off after a tribunal refused his attempt to explain why he signed a plea deal.

A veteran solicitor who used client money to alleviate his firm’s financial problems and also misled his insurer that he was authorised to practise when he no longer was, has been struck off.

Disgraced human rights lawyer Phil Shiner will have to wait nearly two years for his trial on four allegations of fraud, the Crown Court said on Friday.