Compliance & Regulation
Shiner’s guilty plea to trigger payments to law firm’s creditors
The liquidator of Public Interest Lawyers will shortly declare a dividend to creditors following the the guilty plea of its disgraced founder, Phil Shiner.
CMA targets seven unregulated wills and divorce providers
The CMA has written to seven unregulated providers of wills and online divorce services, warning them about “aggressive upselling, the refusal of refunds and failing to respond to complaints”.
Costs and staff numbers at Law Society Group on the rise
The size and cost of the Law Society Group – primarily made up of the Law Society representative body and the Solicitors Regulation Authority – continues to rise, its accounts have shown.
BSB calls in external law firm to help with cross-qualifying lawyers
The Bar Standards Board is set to bring in external solicitors to help clear the sizeable backlog of applications by foreign lawyers wanting to requalify at the Bar.
Rebuke for solicitor who held onto client money for 14 years
A solicitor who retained client money for 14 years without good reason has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Barrister disbarred over CV that lied about work in chambers
A barrister who lied about having practised from a well-known London set when in fact he had never even gone through pupillage has been disbarred.
Male barristers “not being held to account” for bullying women
The Bar Standards Board is “not holding perpetrator barristers accountable for harassment and bullying of women”, female barrister groups have argued.
Veteran solicitor and domestic abuse victim can return to roll
A veteran solicitor who was struck off in 2002 “against a background of traumatic domestic abuse” has been allowed to return to the roll to work in a pro bono law clinic.
Solicitor struck off for lying to partners about possible claim
A solicitor who admitted lying to his partners about reporting a possible claim to their professional indemnity insurers has been struck off.
Circuit judge was “overfamiliar” with junior female staff member
A male circuit judge who was “overfamiliar” with a junior female member of staff has been handed formal advice for misconduct, rather than the recommended warning.
Court criticises solicitor in relationship with client for work on her claim
The High Court has criticised a “seriously mistaken” senior solicitor for leading on a £1.3m claim against another law firm when he was in a romantic relationship with the claimant.
CA rejects public access barristers’ bid for outstanding fees
The Court of Appeal has rejected a bid by two public access barristers to be paid nearly £125,000 in fees after the lower courts found a key term in their retainers unfair.
Strike-off for partner caught by paedophile hunter “sting”
A former partner at top firm DWF who was convicted after being caught in a ‘sting’ operation by a paedophile hunter group has now been struck off.
“Robing room banter” – Solicitor reprimanded for sexual comments
An experienced criminal lawyer who made sexualised jokes in a courtroom at the expense of a probation officer has been reprimanded by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
BSB decides not to publish its assessments of chambers
The Bar Standards Board has decided against making public the assessments it intends to make of individual chambers, as part of its new approach to overseeing them.
Blog
Why law firms are getting AI supervision wrong
The profession’s response to AI supervision failures misunderstands the nature of LLM output – there needs to be for a shift in the culture.
Beyond the PII premium – rethinking risk
Professional indemnity insurance renewal is often treated as an annual pricing exercise. But it is also a chance to show how effectively you identify, manage and mitigate risk.
The AI governance gap in law firms and why it matters now
A third of law firms are already using AI tools with no formal policy in place to govern how AI gets used, what data goes into it, or who’s accountable when something goes wrong.
Reports
Associates
