Exclusive: SRA “planning to give all legal work to single law firm”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is planning not only to combine its two law firm panels into one, but also to give all the legal work involved to a single firm, Legal Futures understands – leaving solicitors who have acted for decades as prosecutors out in the cold and questioning whether the regulator is taking the wrong approach.
High Court: law firm “sufficiently well-funded” to cope with freezing order over £2m in fees in its client account
Leading litigation firm Stewarts Law is “sufficiently well-funded” to cope with £2m intended to pay its fees and disbursements sitting frozen in its client account, while the true owner of the money is identified, the High Court has ruled.
Leading City firm fined record sum for money laundering rule breaches
City firm Clyde & Co has been fined £50,000 – the largest penalty issued against a law firm – and three of its partners £10,000 each for allowing its client account to be used as a banking facility and breaching anti-money laundering rules.
BSB to launch plans for ‘barrister apprenticeships’
The Bar Standards Board is to launch a consultation this summer setting out the rule changes it needs to implement its fiercely contested training reforms, and among them will be a new route to qualification similar to solicitor apprenticeships.
Bar Standards Board opens its doors as ABS regulator no.5
The Bar Standards Board has today begun licensing alternative business structures (ABSs), making it the fifth body granted the power. As with its regime for lawyer-only owned entities, it will specialise in ‘advocacy focused’ ABSs.
Fine for senior partner who “accidentally” discriminated against colleague on grounds of age and religion
A senior partner who was found by an employment tribunal to have discriminated against, harassed and victimised a former equity partner at his firm, has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which found his culpability to be “low” as his behaviour had “just crossed the line into discrimination”.
Pioneering ODR platform to rein in ambitions after commercial setback
The partnership behind an pioneering online dispute resolution platform for divorce is to be disbanded for commercial reasons, and the venture will be replaced by a scaled-down project that will for the first time involve face-to-face contact with lawyers.
SRA dismisses Law Society concerns over domestic violence referral fees
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has dismissed Law Society concerns about disciplinary sanctions imposed on a law firm that paid referral fees to a domestic violence charity. It pointed out that the actions of leading legal aid firm Duncan Lewis were clear breaches of the SRA Handbook.
“The barrister edge” – PI firm claims to be largest BSB entity to date
A Bar Standards Board-regulated entity has acquired more than 800 clients in less than 18 months, which it claims makes it the largest in the country, by capitalising on barristers’ relatively new right to conduct litigation. It also said that having the involvement of barristers from the start of a case speeds them up.
SRA shuts down Asons and tells staff transferred to another firm they can’t have their files
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has closed down controversial Bolton law firm Asons shortly after it ceased trading and was sold to another practice, it emerged yesterday. Meanwhile, a set of accounts for the first six months of Asons’ current financial year indicated that it was turning around the previous year’s poor performance.
