Competence

A married couple has largely failed in a claim of negligence against a firm of solicitors which had admitted that it failed to advise properly on a separate negligence case against another law firm.

Solicitors must think beyond the drafting of non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements to the “impression created” by them, a panel of experts has warned.

HM Land Registry has published how many requests for information it sent to law firms about their applications, with one receiving them in 68% of those it submitted.

The Land Registry has dropped plans to publish a chart of the top 50 law firms it deals with, ranked by the number of incomplete or erroneous applications they make.

The Law Society’s toughened up code for completion, which comes into force on 1 May and reflects last year’s Dreamvar ruling, has divided opinion among conveyancers.

The Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal ruling that a negligent law firm should have to compensate its former client for failing to make a claim.

Solicitors at smaller firms believe that clients’ focus on price is compromising their work and even their ability to uphold the law, a survey has suggested.

A top family law firm has been criticised by a High Court judge for exacerbating the conflict in a high-value divorce by issuing a Form A during a period when it had been agreed not to.

The Law Society is dramatically beefing up oversight of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme by introducing onsite compliance checks and many more desk-based assessments.

Conveyancers acting for buyers should “think” rather than “automatically try to export the risk of identity fraud onto the seller’s conveyancer”, a specialist barrister has warned.