Compliance & Regulation

A solicitor left clients “high and dry” by failing to register their property purchases and pay stamp duty, while misappropriating some £175,000 of their money, a tribunal has found.

A veteran solicitor did not confirm that his imprisoned client had given instructions to transfer a £300,000 property to his mother, with the client claiming after it happened that he knew nothing about it.

A solicitor was verbally abusive to a client and attempted to dissuade them from continuing a complaint against him, it has emerged – and the pair were related.

A partner at leading regional firm Clarke Willmott has been struck off for lying to his client that settlement monies were on the way when he had not actually negotiated any settlement.

A solicitor who led a client to believe he was divorced after she falsified a decree absolute has been struck off. She also admitted having the client pay her in cash, rather than pay her firm.

An experienced barrister who appeared in two courts without having a practising certificate has been suspended for four months, having been fined twice in previous years for the same offence.

Global law firm Jones Day has reportedly had 100 gigabytes of data stolen, with some of it appearing on the dark web, after a third party that provides it with file transfer software was hacked.

A solicitor who described how she fell in love with the architect of a translation fee fraud – who used her to facilitate it – has accepted that she had to be struck off.

Money laundering, buyer-funded developments, and acting for both sides are among the risks highlighted in the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ first Compliance Risk Agenda.

A solicitor struck off after it emerged he had been convicted of harassing a woman in Norway nearly 20 years ago has failed in his challenge to the decision.

A solicitor who lied to a High Court judge during the trial of a dispute with a former partner in his law firm has been struck off. The tribunal said the public would be “horrified” by his misconduct.

A solicitor who received a caution for assault by beating a female family member has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It accepted the conduct was “out of character”.

A solicitor who twice misled a potential employer into believing he was still in a job – when in fact he had been sacked six months earlier – has been suspended indefinitely.

Firms getting into new areas of work because of the impact of Covid, along with handling funds generated through the legal sale of cannabis abroad, are among emerging money laundering risks.

The possibility of negative interest rates moved a step closer yesterday amid continuing uncertainty over whether law firms could pass on to clients the cost of holding their money.