Compliance & Regulation

A solicitor who let his firm’s client account be used as a banking facility for payments from clients’ investors totalling over £4.6m has been fined £15,000.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority was justified in prosecuting two law firm partners even though all of the allegations were dismissed, a tribunal has ruled.

The Supreme Court has refused to interfere in a ruling that legal professional privilege which covers an email does not extend to any attachments.

A solicitor who misled the First-tier and Upper Tribunals in immigration cases about anti-gay legislation in Uganda has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A sole practitioner in his 70s has been struck off after practising for over six months without professional indemnity insurance, despite telling others he had cover.

A former paralegal at City giant Herbert Smith Freehills has been banned from the solicitors’ profession after submitting multiple overtime claims with fake approvals on them.

Law firms in London, Manchester and Bath have become the first sanctioned for failing to publish price and service information, with compliance made a condition of their authorisation.

A disciplinary tribunal has stayed proceedings against an Allen & Overy partner over the infamous non-disclosure agreement he helped negotiate on behalf of Harvey Weinstein, because of ill-health.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was wrong to throw out a private prosecution brought by a former client against the current president of the Law Society, the High Court has ruled.

A solicitor has been fined £8,000 for failing to advise clients of the risks inherent in three off-plan development schemes which were not completed, putting nearly £30m at risk.

A solicitor who used disbursements meant for experts and counsel to keep his firm afloat – and lied to his regulator about the debts he was being chased for – has been struck off.

An assistant solicitor who had a panic attack after missing a hearing and tried to destroy evidence that she had been notified about it has avoided being struck off.

A young solicitor who amended an email to give a client a false impression of when it was sent has avoided being struck off for what a tribunal described as a “moment of madness”.

A solicitor failed to comply with court orders to produce files to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a High Court master has ruled, despite her claim that she hand-delivered them.

Directors from two legal businesses which generated £2.5m in fees by providing unregulated immigration advice have been fined nearly £17,000 and ordered to pay over £28,000 in compensation.