Indefinite suspension for solicitor who opted to pay off bank instead of £605,000 owed to HMRC
A solicitor has been suspended indefinitely after breaching conduct rules by preferring his bank as a creditor over Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, leaving the Exchequer hundreds of thousands of pounds out of pocket as a result. John Barrie Wilson had already been also disqualified as a director because of the shortfall.
Slater & Gordon to sue Quindell vendor for £600m over “fraudulent misrepresentation”
Slater & Gordon is to sue the company formerly known as Quindell for £600m on the basis that, but for fraudulent misrepresentation, it would not have agreed the deal that has almost brought the listed law firm to its knees.
High Court again overturns SDT ruling that cleared solicitor over Axiom fund borrowing
The High Court has overturned a decision by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to clear a solicitor who borrowed money from the controversial Axiom Legal Financing Fund of charges of misconduct – five months after another ruling involving two solicitors who took an Axiom loan was also reversed.
Engineering consultancy launches ABS – but hopes to avoid competing with law firm clients
A leading provider of consultancy and expert witness services to the engineering sector has launched an alternative business structure (ABS) in a bid to add regulated legal services to its offering for corporate clients. The company is headed by the former senior partner of Wragge & Co.
Nuisance marketing company that made 100m cold calls receives record fine
A company behind 100m nuisance calls has been fined a record £400,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office after more than 1,000 people complained about automated calls. The calls, made over an 18-month period, related to a wide range of subjects but mainly road traffic accident claims and PPI compensation.
Virtual law firm has highest “success rate” in senior courts litigation
A virtual law firm, Keystone Law, has beaten the big players to achieve the highest “success rate” in litigation in the senior courts, a report has found. Data analysts Premonition also said litigants in person were more successful in winning cases as a group than the profession, as it robustly defended its quantitative approach to recording the performance of lawyers.
Non-lawyer managers setting bar high for equity partners, survey finds
Fee income per partner at larger firms soared last year from an average of £777,000 to almost £1.4m, a survey has found. Accountants MHA, who produce an annual benchmarking report, said the main reason was a fall in the number of equity partners at these firms, helped by an increase in profitable work.
Bird & Bird loses bid to overturn £2m planning negligence ruling
A leading City law firm has failed to persuade the Court of Appeal to overturn a ruling that it was negligent in failing to highlight a major development planned to take place near a £26m residential property whose purchase it was handling.
Judiciary joins forces with techies to run online court hackathon
Two leading lawtech organisations have linked with the judiciary to stage a hackathon which will develop tools aimed at assisting the online court, it has emerged. The Society for Computers and Law, London lawtech community Legal Geek, and the Judiciary of England and Wales, will jointly host the event on 1-2 July.
Tech industry specialist barrister launches BSB entity
A barrister who specialises in advising technology companies has launched a Bar Standards Board entity to house her employment practice, while the legal group she co-founded is poised to release a product geared to helping clients navigate European data legislation.
