Compliance & Regulation

A solicitor who “turned his life around” and “faced up to his problems”, including alcohol addiction, after being suspended has regained his practising certificate.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has paid a record £228,000 in costs to a solicitor whose prosecution a disciplinary tribunal found was “improperly brought and pursued”.

The Law Society has called on the Legal Ombudsman to take “radical action” to cut the growing backlog of complaints, saying progress in performance has been too slow to date.

A partner and his law firm have each been fined after failing to deliver on 32 undertakings and confirmations within the agreed timescale – with six still outstanding five years after the transaction concluded.

An overhaul of anti-money laundering legislation – including targeting professional enablers like lawyers – is needed if the UK is to create a “hostile environment for the world’s kleptocrats”.

A solicitor found guilty of assaulting his elderly mother with a pan has been indefinitely suspended to allow him the chance to address his problems with alcohol.

Regulators of legal services must develop plans for “remedial action to address competence issues” among lawyers, according to a draft policy statement published today by the Legal Services Board.

The Legal Services Board is to launch a review of professional indemnity insurance to ensure “the right balance is struck” between protecting consumers and the cost of that protection.

A solicitor who lied to both his regulator and insurer about improper withdrawals from client account of almost £670,000 by a conveyancer he employed has been suspended and not struck off.

A solicitor who misused client money after excluding his accountants from his firm’s financial processes and cutting out his salaried partners too has been struck off.

A male trainee solicitor at Dentons has successfully appealed a rebuke from the SRA over a sexually suggestive Christmas card he left on the desk of a female colleague.

A personal injury lawyer who the SRA accepted was a “diligent and caring solicitor” but was under “significant pressure” from his employer has been cleared of dishonesty by a tribunal.

The number of reports about barristers’ conduct outside their professional lives continues to rise, the BSB has revealed. It also highlighted problems with victims of bullying not being treated with dignity.

A solicitor who used money inherited by a jailed client to pay off his law firm’s overdraft has been struck off, with an attempt to blame a former employee dismissed as “nonsensical”.

A North-West law firm and one of its partners have been fined for undertaking 113 conveyancing transactions over four years that avoided £3m in stamp duty land tax.