Compliance & Regulation

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.

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.