Lawyer sexually harassed female colleague 54 years his junior
A 29-year-old woman was sexually harassed by a lawyer 54 years her senior when he invited her for a meeting in his hotel room, an employment tribunal has ruled.
AML reforms could see banks ask for details of solicitors’ clients
Proposed government changes to anti-money laundering rules around pooled client accounts could raise issues around client confidentiality and privilege, experts have warned.
Practising barrister named a tax avoidance promoter in HMRC first
A practising barrister has for the first time been added to HM Revenue & Customs’ list of tax avoidance promoters.
County court delays falling – but still a long way to go
The government claimed yesterday that “our reforms are working” after the latest county court statistics showed that delays continued to fall against the backdrop of a rising workload.
Public access barristers used mainly for advice, not representation
People who instruct barristers through the public access scheme are much more likely to be seeking advice than representation in court, new research has indicated.
Strike-off for solicitor who deleted and lied about email
A solicitor at a national law firm who deleted a client’s email from its document management system “to try to cover up that he had not dealt with it” has been struck off.
Conveyancing fees maintain record high after stamp duty rush
Conveyancing fees have not fallen back after reaching an all-time high in the rush to get transactions completed before stamp duty increased on 31 March.
Two-thirds of law firms breaking residual balance rules
A leading firm of accountants says two-thirds of law firms whose books it examined for regulatory reports had broken the rules on residual balances.
“Weed out chancers” with £50 Legal Ombudsman complaint fee
The Legal Ombudsman should introduce a nominal complaint fee of £50 to “weed out those whom one might describe as ‘chancers’”, Birmingham Law Society has proposed.
Solicitor who lied to client “to buy herself time” is struck off
A solicitor who admitted lying to a client about receiving a medical report “to buy herself time” has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
