Compliance & Regulation
Fee-earner who favoured one client over another fails to lift ban
A non-solicitor fee-earner banned from working for law firms after favouring the interests of a woman who suffered from Alzheimer’s over her mentally ill husband has failed to overturn it.
Jail for lottery scam ex-solicitor who stole £2m of client money
A solicitor struck off for plundering £2m from his firm’s client accounts as well as trusts after falling victim to a lottery scam has been jailed for four years.
Solicitor to face SDT over “misleading” Covid threats to schools and GPs
A solicitor accused of sending misleading threats to schools and GP surgeries over Covid vaccinations for children is to face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
SRA: Firms must be held accountable for progress on diversity
Law firms need to be held accountable over efforts to improve the profession’s equality, diversity and inclusion, the chief executive of the SRA said yesterday.
Using the right tech “should be a competence requirement”
Being able to apply the right technology tool to service clients should become a competence requirement for lawyers, the former head of LawtechUK has suggested.
“Manifestly incompetent” solicitor did not tell SRA when firm went bust
A solicitor who admitted “manifest incompetence” and that he was “a poor manager”, failing to disclose that his firm was in financial difficulty, has been suspended for 18 months.
Axiom Ince “has enough assets” to meet claims for missing millions
Axiom Ince should have sufficient assets to meet the claims for the millions in missing money, a lawyer for its global chief executive has said.
IT worker used firm email in bid to influence coroner
An IT support worker at a major London law firm who sought to influence a coroner by sending misleading emails using his work account has been banned from the profession.
Size and amount of property work “main drivers” of PII premiums
Smaller law firms and practices that mainly operate in conveyancing pay twice the level of professional indemnity insurance premium of others, new research has shown.
Four years on, BSB starts paying for Legal Choices again
The Bar Standards Board has decided to restart paying its share to the cost of the consumer-facing website run by all the legal regulators, four years after pulling out.
Vineall urges Bar to lead innovation and keep external investors at bay
Barristers need to lead innovation at the Bar if they want to avoid sharing the fruits of their labours with external investors, the Bar Council chair said last night.
Solicitor who changed date of legal charge is struck off
A solicitor who changed the date on a legal charge having missed the deadline for registration at Companies House has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
SDT fines senior solicitor £25,000 for sexual assault convictions
A senior solicitor convicted of sexually assaulting two women in his local pub has been fined £25,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
Firms risk SDT as they fail to act on new workplace conduct rules
Law firms are struggling to understand the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s workplace environment rules introduced earlier this year, a leading regulatory solicitor has warned.
Government pulls back on single regulator for insolvency practitioners
The government has rowed back on a proposal to introduce a single regulator for insolvency practitioners but will take statutory power to do it in future if needed.
Blog
Legal director: an alternative to partnership
Firms are increasingly acknowledging the need for alternative senior roles – positions that offer influence and recognition without the obligations of ownership.
It’s time for law firms to ask tougher questions
For years, many law firms have treated ID verification as a box-ticking exercise. Run a liveness check, match a face to a document and move on. But that is no longer good enough.
Business fatigue to AI will risk job security
Whilst we know professional learning has always been part of career paths, to hire, retain and keep talent, AI needs to be embedded as a core part of this training.
