Solicitor to be sentenced for helping ‘the Pope’s banker’ launder millions
A solicitor has been convicted of helping launder money on behalf of a man who claimed to be Pope Francis’s banker as part of a massive scam. Buddika Kadurugamuwa will be sentenced later this week after being found guilty of one count of transferring criminal property.
Sole practitioner who overcharged client by 500% is struck off
A sole practitioner who overcharged by 500% for private client work has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The SDT also found that Premji Naran Patel was “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by improperly moving money between different client accounts.
Online divorce and probate set for early 2017, Munby says
Online divorce and probate are set to be delivered under the courts modernisation programme by early 2017, the president of the Family Division has said. Sir James Munby also called on family barristers to adopt new working practices, including direct access, unbundling and fixed fees.
App aimed at automating divorce process looks forward to UK market entry
The UK is in the sights of a Canadian company that has developed an app aimed at simplifying the divorce process for self-represented couples, including automated completion of divorce application forms and the documents needed to make a separation agreement.
Solicitors call for Online Court to have lower £10,000 limit
The London Litigation Solicitors Association and the Law Society are pushing for a lower £10,000 limit for cases in the Online Court. In his interim report, Lord Justice Briggs proposed a limit of £25,000. The LSLA said that there should be fixed or capped costs for litigation between £10,000 and £25,000.
Slater & Gordon unveils huge losses, with offices and jobs at risk in UK “reorganisation”
Slater & Gordon is to conduct a major restructuring of its UK operation – with office closures and redundancies on the cards – after it unveiled an eye-watering loss of £493m for the six months ending 31 December 2015. The loss was mainly attributable to a write-down of goodwill arising from its acquisition of Quindell, but also underperformance of the entire UK operation.
Exclusive: government indicates that Law Society will lose practising fee funding
The Ministry of Justice has given its strongest indication yet that, once the legal regulators become independent, lawyers will no longer be compelled to make a financial contribution to their representative bodies.
Solicitor who “exploited” criminal client is struck off
A solicitor who “exploited” a criminal client who he met in a pub by acting as advocate without authorisation and demanding a £65,000 loan has been struck off. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Stephen Paul Kettlewell failed to repay the loan.
SRA: We want to be accountable to Parliament, not the Law Society
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has asked the House of Commons’ justice select committee to assume responsibility for holding it to account once independence from the Law Society has been achieved.
Ups and downs of listed law: major growth for NewLaw’s owner, but Countrywide Property Lawyers dips
Cardiff firm NewLaw yesterday confirmed that it is working with the Royal College of Nursing to launch an alternative business structure from 1 April. The news came with its owner, AIM-listed Redde plc, announcing big rises in income and profits for the second half of 2015.
