Compliance & Regulation

It seems “relatively straightforward” for barristers to avoid the cab-rank rule and its importance to access to justice may be overstated, the Legal Services Board has said.

Nearly 30% of firms probed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for their adherence to anti-money laundering rules in the last year were non-compliant, new figures have shown.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has cleared a leading solicitor of pregnancy discrimination against a paralegal despite an employment tribunal finding him guilty of it.

There is “absolutely no evidence” that barristers and other advocates need a new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime, their UK representative bodies have argued.

A lawyer jailed for seven years for fraud after stealing money from an estate and failing to provide conveyancing services he was paid for has failed in a bid to reduce the sentence.

Two solicitors who failed in their duties as attorneys under a lasting power of attorney have each been fined £11,250 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Chartered legal executives would have “no role” in the governance of the SRA and the way regulation is carried out if they were “subsumed” into the regulator, CILEx Regulation has argued.

The Bar Standards Board has reported a surge of lawyers from the Indian sub-continent seeking to be called to the Bar in England and Wales – even though many have no intention of practising here.

A solicitor formerly at City giant Herbert Smith Freehills has been struck off after being jailed for child sex offences but his identity has been kept private.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was “obviously wrong” to name former clients of a struck-off solicitor and failing to uphold legal professional privilege, the High Court has ruled.

A solicitor who made “inappropriate, derogatory, puerile and inflammatory remarks” in emails to another solicitor has been fined £7,500 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Bar Standards Board has welcomed an increase in reports of bullying and harassment in the profession, saying the rise indicates growing confidence in how it deals with them.

The former head of the Scottish Bar has been suspended after being filmed on a train naming women who had accused ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond of sexual assault, in breach of a court order.

A North London law firm that allowed £105,000 of residual client balances to build up over 13 years has been fined £14,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A senior City lawyer accused of misconduct which the public would view as “perhaps even tantamount to espionage” has been cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.