Sweary senior partner wins damages reassessment
An employment tribunal has been ordered to reconsider the £47,000 in damages that it awarded to a paralegal subjected to foul-mouthed tirades by the senior partner of a London law firm.
Trainee falsified LPC certificate to trick SRA
A trainee solicitor who applied to join the roll with a falsified certificate that he had passed the legal practice course has been banned from the profession.
Legal regulators cool on the idea of being abolished
Legal regulators have reacted coolly to the recommendation of Professor Stephen Mayson that they be replaced by a single organisation, arguing instead the case for specialism.
Mayson calls for single regulator of all legal services
All providers of legal services, whether legally qualified or not, should be registered and regulated by a single regulator, Professor Stephen Mayson’s two-year review has concluded.
Law firm mergers survive virus “shock”
Law firm mergers are still being planned, despite the coronavirus pandemic, although they may take longer to get over the line, experts have predicted.
MoJ stalls on next wave of PI reform
The Ministry of Justice continues to stall on when it will progress the next wave of personal injury reform, while defending the controversial decision to drop ADR from the new whiplash portal.
Small firms “hit hardest” by lockdown
Small law firms have been hit hardest by the lockdown, a survey of the impact of Covid-19 on the profession has found but overall firms have “largely seen only a minor impact on business levels”.
Advocacy services firm becomes ABS
An advocacy services firm which attended over 6,000 hearings last year has become an alternative business structure so it can add qualified advocates to its team of solicitors’ agents.
Absence of shielding QC “does not make in-person hearing unfair”
A QC’s inability to attend court in person because she is shielding, unlike the other counsel in a case, will not make the hearing unfair, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
SRA to beef up AML monitoring of law firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to beef up its monitoring of firms’ anti-money laundering efforts and begin a review of continuing competence, its draft 2020/21 business plan has revealed.
