Compliance & Regulation

A partner whose “head in the sand” approach meant a case spiralled out of control after he failed to serve points of dispute on a bill of costs in time has been struck off.

Solicitors Regulation Authority plans for new rules on how law firms handle complaints could lead to “overregulation”, the Law Society has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has fined a South-East London law firm £114,000 for anti-money laundering failures, one of the largest to date.

The former chair of CILEX – who has previously called for a radical shift in the way lawyers are regulated – is to take over as chair of the Bar Standards Board in September.

The Law Society has ratcheted up the pressure on the SRA over Axiom Ince by saying it is “not sufficiently assured” that the regulator is doing its job properly.

The Ministry of Justice is taking forward work on whether interest on lawyers’ client accounts could be diverted to fund legal services for people unable to afford advice.

An experienced solicitor has been jailed for his part in helping to run two bogus investment schemes – one involving litigation funding – that conned over 150 victims out of £6m.

A law firm that failed to identify that the beneficial owner of its client was a politically exposed person (PEP) has been fined £173,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Complaints about contentious social media posts by barristers have fuelled a jump of a third in reports to the Bar Standards Board, cases described as “inherently complex”.

A High Court ruling casting uncertainty over the immunity of advocates for what they say and do in court could have a “chilling effect”, the Bar Council has warned.

A barrister disbarred for supervising an immigration firm whose registration had been cancelled by the Immigration Advice Agency has failed in his appeal against the decision.

The government has outlined how it will improve the anti-money laundering regime by publishing a slew of planned changes to the underlying regulations.

The profession has failed to make “significant progress in tackling the structural and cultural barriers to encouraging equality and diversity”, the LSB has declared.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to demand assurances from firms conducting volume consumer claims that they are meeting their professional obligations.

The emergence of third-party managed accounts “may, in time, reduce” the risk of law firms’ client accounts being used by criminals for money laundering, the government said yesterday.