Compliance & Regulation

The SRA yesterday took the unusual step of setting out why it cleared the law firm which acted for Yevgeniy Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, of misconduct.

A law firm that failed to conduct proper anti-money laundering checks while acting for a politically exposed person has been fined £25,000.

One of the solicitors accused by the Daily Mail of offering to help an undercover reporter concoct a false asylum claim has been cleared of misconduct.

A senior in-house solicitor who coined offensive nicknames for colleagues and sent sweary emails has been fined £15,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The Good Law Project is threatening US law firm Morrison Foerster with legal action over its London office “reneging” on an agreement to represent a trans man.

The SRA relied on complaints by anonymous people and “a significant amount of prejudicial hearsay evidence” to support a failed prosecution against two high-profile solicitors.

The Russian arm of top City firm Herbert Smith Freehills has been fined £465,000 for breaching UK financial sanctions imposed on Russia.

The case of Jo Sidhu KC – who was disbarred yesterday – “exposes the failure of the current systems to effectively prevent sexual misconduct at the Bar”, Harriet Harman KC said yesterday.

There are no rules that require law firms to take on clients outside of criminal work and so they need to be willing to justify their choices publicly, the former senior partner of Allen & Overy said this week.

The Prime Minister’s anti-corruption champion last night called for a new criminal offence that would see lawyers prosecuted for failing to prevent money laundering and economic crime.

A City solicitor found guilty of a low-level offence of stalking his ex-girlfriend has been suspended from the profession for six months.

Members of the public and firms reporting concerns to the SRA will have to wait up to two months for a response, twice the time it was at the start of the year.

A law firm partner has been struck off for fabricating documents to mislead the SRA about his role in mismanaging a client’s personal injury trust.

A solicitor struck off for multiple rule breaches, including that he actively concealed from his employer the fact that he had taken loans from clients, has failed in his appeal.

Sexual harassment at the Bar that “might have been tolerated and even expected in the past is no longer acceptable”, a disciplinary tribunal has said – but “regrettably, such behaviour is still widespread”.