Compliance & Regulation

A partner in a London law firm has been fined £25,000 for allowing its client account to be used as a banking facility and failing to make adequate identity checks.

The Legal Ombudsman is in crisis but “refusing to acknowledge serious and fundamental concerns” facing the organisation, the Public and Commercial Services union has warned.

There is a lack of trust and visibility of interactive self-help legal tools that are being developed to help access to justice, such as chatbots and online documents, the SRA has found.

Leading criminal law firm Tuckers has been fined £98,000 by the Information Commissioner after a ransomware attack that encrypted nearly a million files exploited its “negligent security practices”.

The government said yesterday it would consider a barrister peer’s call for law firms to register their work on transactions that cover areas of national security.

A solicitor who was “reckless” as to whether the court might be misled over a £2.9 costs bill has been suspended for 12 months by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Sophie Khan, the solicitor jailed for defying court orders to hand over files to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, has now lost her challenge to the regulator’s decision to close her firm.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to conduct spot checks on law firms to ensure they are complying with the sanctions imposed on Russian individuals, companies and ships.

A solicitor who was a major figure in miners’ compensation claims has been fined for using £140,000 of residual balances in his client account to pay salaries and tax bills.

Solicitors will have a regulatory obligation to challenge colleagues who treat others unfairly or without respect as part of a plan to beef up the rules on health and wellbeing at work.

Efforts to close cases more quickly are having a positive impact on the performance of the Legal Ombudsman, with an influx of new recruits set to speed up progress.

A solicitor who lied about not having a bank account or any income other than benefits to avoid having to repay a debt to the Legal Aid Agency (Lhas been struck off.

The partner whose conduct contributed to the record £232,000 fine handed out to Mishcon de Reya has been fined £17,500 himself.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned lawyers and others involved in “assisting corrupt oligarchs” that they will “pay a price” if they have undermined the interests of the UK.

A leading criminal law solicitor has been struck off after asking a police station client to pay him £100 for travel costs and then claiming the money from the Legal Aid Agency.