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.
Solicitor accepts rebuke for involvement in £2m SDLT schemes
A solicitor involved in conveyancing transactions that resulted in the non-payment of £2m in stamp duty land tax has accepted a rebuke from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Now defunct Leeds firm Dixon Law Solicitors acted in 47 transactions over two and a half years that used two SDLT avoidance schemes,
Solicitors’ mistakes costing indemnity insurers £200m a year
Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurers paid out around £2bn due to negligence claims in the 10 years to 2014, startling new figures released yesterday by the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed. The regulator said that around 142,000 claims were made in that decade, one in five of which was successful.
Jail again for fraudulent ex-solicitor who hijacked law firm’s identity
An ex-solicitor has been found guilty and jailed for five years for five counts of fraud by false representation after he hijacked a law firm’s identity – his second spell in jail for fraud after he previously stole from his own firm’s client account. The conviction came at the end of an 11-day trial.
SRA floats putting firms’ complaints and claims records into public domain – but not their prices
Placing law firms’ complaints data and insurance claims in the public domain are among the “initial ideas” published today by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to improve transparency in the legal market – but it is not currently planning to mandate firms to publish prices.
Lawyers in dock after contrasting medical reports come to light in RTA claim
The High Court has granted insurance company LV= permission to bring committal proceedings against solicitors from a defunct law firm after two starkly contrasting medical reports emerged in a road traffic case they were handling.
Solicitors in trouble for allowing non-lawyers to have inappropriate control over firms
Solicitors who ceded control of their firms to non-lawyers – in one instance they claimed their practice had been taken over by a criminal gang – have been sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. In the first case, it struck off three partners following mortgage frauds that have already cost the profession nearly £3m.
Tech investors deterred because of “relatively small” global legal market
The global legal market is small by comparison with other markets and this is deterring some technology companies from investing in it, but only technology can service the “vast unmet legal need” in the future, according to a leading lawtech commentator.
Tory MPs lobby Truss to get on with whiplash reform
A group of Conservative MPs will next week lobby justice secretary Liz Truss to press ahead with the proposed personal injury reforms. Last week it emerged that the long-awaited consultation on raising the small claims limit and removing general damages for low-value soft-tissue injuries has been unexpectedly put on the backburner.
Law firms need “culture of experimentation” before they can embrace IT transformation
Law firms need to radically change their cultures to embrace emerging technologies such as cognitive computing – including suppressing their tendency to be risk averse – according to the head of strategy at a leading London practice.
