Compliance & Regulation
Phil Shiner pleads guilty to legal aid fraud
Disgraced human rights lawyer Phil Shiner has pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud over legal aid applications for claims against British soldiers accused of ill treatment of Iraqi detainees.
Solicitors fined £30k for letting down property clients
Two solicitors have been fined more than £30,000 between them for not considering conflicts of interest and not acting in clients’ best interests.
LSB approves trebling of compensation fund contributions
The Legal Services Board has approved the big hike in contributions solicitors and firms have to make to the Compensation Fund just in time for the SRA to collect them.
Fewer complaints about barristers’ use of social media
The number of reports to the BSB about barristers’ use of social media has unexpectedly fallen but an increasing proportion relate to “controversial social and political issues”.
New equality duty will not impact cab-rank rule, says BSB chief
The Bar Standards Board’s controversial proposal for new equality rules will not affect the cab-rank rule and will not lead to quotas, its director general said yesterday.
“Firms could close” – Law Society joins opposition to SRA fines plan
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s needs to rethink the “potentially unlawful, confusing and flawed” proposals to update its fining regime, the Law Society said yesterday.
Solicitor rebuked for failures in compliance roles at ABS
A solicitor who held all the compliance roles at an alternative business structure owned by a non-lawyer has been rebuked for multiple failures under his watch.
Former justice minister urges opposition to planned BSB equality duty
Former justice minister Lord Wolfson KC has joined the voices opposing the Bar Standards Board’s plan to impose a new positive duty on barristers to act in a way that “advances” EDI.
Solicitor’s improper Covid letters aimed to push anti-vaccine campaign
A solicitor who sent overly aggressive and legally inaccurate letters before action as part of a campaign against the Covid vaccine has been fined £15,000.
Solicitor fined third of annual income for breach of undertaking
A solicitor who paid out money he was holding, having given an undertaking not to do so, has been fined a third of his annual income by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Birmingham Law Society attacks SRA’s ‘Robin Hood’ fines plan
More solicitors have attacked the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans for new fining guidance, rejecting its “Robin Hood” approach of calculating fines based on income.
AML overseer tells legal regulators to up their efforts
The body tasked with overseeing legal regulators’ anti-money laundering work said yesterday it was not seeing “the consistent, effective improvement we need”.
City solicitors lambast SRA’s plans for new fining regime
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s proposed reform of its fining powers is arbitrary, not fit for purpose, and inconsistent with its legal obligations, City solicitors have warned.
“Not a steady state period” – SRA extends chair’s term
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided to extend Anna Bradley’s term as chair for a further two years rather than recruit a replacement.
SRA ban for employed barrister jailed for rape
An employed barrister jailed for raping a woman he met on Tinder has been banned from working for law firms after he failed in his appeal.
Blog
The best legal AI doesn’t replace rules-based engines – it completes them
There is a belief circulating in legal tech that AI can solve everything – that LLMs are universally superior to what came before. It is not always true, however.
Small steps, big impact: how SME law firms are making legal tech work
For SME law firms, the priority is turning the potential of tech into measurable impact: success is driven not just by the technology, but by how firms approach planning and implementation.
Why housing disrepair claims against councils have leapt by nearly 400%
Housing disrepair claims against councils have surged dramatically in recent years, with some areas reporting increases approaching a staggering 400%.
