SRA gets busy with rebukes for solicitors acting where there was a conflict of interest
A law firm and a solicitor have separately been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for acting where there was a conflict of interest. Other rebukes have been handed out to a firm that did not comply with Legal Ombudsman decisions and a solicitor who said he was a sole practitioner when he wasn’t.
Supreme Court finds for solicitors’ insurer over liability for firm’s debt
The professional indemnity insurer of an insolvent law firm is not required to repay the £581,000 a disbursement funder lost due to the firm’s breach of contract, the Supreme Court has ruled. The justices overturned the Court of Appeal by 4-1.
PI solicitors generally happy with how market is working, but worries over bad practices remain
Personal injury lawyers generally think the market is working well, but there are continuing concerns over claimant firms bringing ‘frivolous’ cases, as well as the use of low-level staff, research commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found. It also described a market polarising between big and small firms.
Lawyers and firms flock to app that cuts out legal recruiters
A ‘disruptive’ legal recruitment app backed by investment from a commercial law firm has signed up thousands of lawyers and dozens of law firms in its first five months, and has just launched in Australia too. It aims to connect legal employers and lawyers without the need for middlemen.
SRA to help solicitors practising from unregulated firms – and their employers – after rules rewrite
The new codes of conduct being drafted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority will include guidance to protect solicitors practising in unregulated businesses, as well as law firm whistleblowers, it has emerged. SRA chief executive Paul Philip strongly defended the principle of allowing solicitors to practise from unregulated firms.
Law schools urged to reconsider how they prepare students for practice amid concerns about ethics
More than one in five law students polled in the UK and the US admit that they would falsify time records for personal and business gain, according to a study of student ethics. Meanwhile, female law students tend to think more in ethical terms than men.
Solicitor accepts blame for taking money from client’s bank account after power of attorney had lapsed
A solicitor who made withdrawals from a client’s bank accounts under powers of attorney that had been terminated, has accepted the maximum penalty that the Solicitors Regulation Authority can impose without referring him to a disciplinary tribunal.
The big law firm of the future – AI, digital robots and blockchain
Big law firms will be using predictive analytics and artificial intelligence not only to predict where growth in services will be, but also which clients and cases are worth pursuing, according to PwC’s vision of the law firm of the future that also foresaw digital robots taking over “routine and standard human transactions”.
The robot judge – AI predicts outcome of European court cases
Artificial intelligence has been used to predict decisions of the European Court of Human Rights to 79% accuracy. Researchers at University College London, the University of Sheffield and the University of Pennsylvania developed the method to analyse case text automatically using a machine learning algorithm.
SDT strikes off partner who faked ledger and “overcharged by nearly 1,000%”
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a partner for dishonestly misappropriating funds from deceaseds’ estates and in one case overcharging by almost 1,000%. He admitted that the ledger given to the SRA was “a work of fiction” and that he had spent two or three days preparing it.
