Compliance & Regulation

Solicitors need to understand better the different roles of the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority, the chair of the SRA said this week.

Two large law firms – Osborne Clarke and Eversheds Sutherland – have said that they will offer all their trainees the opportunity to work part-time from September 2024.

A personal injury lawyer who failed to tell six clients that their claims had been struck out, instead misleading them into thinking they were active, has been struck off.

Firms should relieve lawyers who hold their anti-money laundering compliance roles of some of their fee-earning workload and consider appointing deputies too, the SRA has said.

The Law Society has strongly attacked plans unveiled yesterday by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to scrap the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, which provides cover for post-run-off negligence claims.

A solicitor whose misconduct has led to the SRA Compensation Fund paying out nearly £600,000 to his former conveyancing clients has been struck off.

A solicitor who “dumped” hundreds of hours of unjustified time on a largely completed file in a bid to meet his billing targets has been suspended for nine months.

An experienced solicitor who told a prospective employer that she was still in work, when in fact her former firm had sacked her several months earlier, has been struck off.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched its latest effort to expand its fining powers, this time looking to increase the current £2,000 maximum to £25,000.

Law firm closures and interventions have fallen during the pandemic, but it has had negative effects too, such as abuse of government funding schemes, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed.

A solicitor who hit a person around the head with a frying pan, and another who tried to use a settlement agreement to prevent disclosures to HMRC, have been rebuked.

A lawyer who failed to comply with court orders to hand over his firm’s files to the Solicitors Regulation Authority is facing possible jail time after being found in contempt.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is pressing the Simplify group to reach a position where it can provide its files to clients who wish to change lawyer following the recent cyber-attack.

The evidence for abolishing the Bar course aptitude test is “compelling” as it has failed to achieve its purpose, the Legal Services Consumer Panel has said.

A barrister found to have brought a fundamentally dishonest personal injury claim was not disbarred after a tribunal did not accept that his case was actually fraudulent.