Compliance & Regulation

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has rejected allegations that a pro-Beijing lawyer and politician based in Hong Kong called for pro-independence protestors to be “killed mercilessly”.

The president of the Law Society is to step down later this month in the wake of a High Court ruling that the SDT was wrong to dismiss a prosecution brought against him by a former client.

A solicitor and her practice manager husband jailed for legal aid fraud have failed in their bid to set aside a default judgment for nearly £5m obtained by the Ministry of Justice.

A major City law firm should not be ordered to pay into court $325m it is holding in an escrow account, because it risks being prosecuted in America if it does, the High Court has ruled.

A solicitor who said he did not know that he had been appointed a partner and compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) of his firm has been rebuked.

A solicitor who failed to supervise a caseworker he wrongly thought to be a barrister and also fly tipped legal documents containing client information has been fined.

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.