Private Client

A solicitor accused of misleading her client and her firm about delays in registering lasting powers of attorney has been cleared, with her firm placing too much on her shoulders.

A private client lawyer who billed clients for work he had not done has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The High Court has imposed a suspended prison sentence on a former executor who failed to comply with court orders by not providing information to a law firm.

A wealth management and tax advice firm is to launch an alternative business structure later this year to create a “fully joined-up advisory platform” for its globally mobile clients.

Private client law firms could see client numbers fall as the court digitisation programme is helping more people submit probate applications themselves.

A law firm that limits its solicitors to 25 billable hours a week has seen annual growth of 40% over the last two years.

A solicitor who signed a deed as a witness to a signature when she had not actually been present has escaped being struck off.

An investor-backed search fund has acquired a conveyancing and private client law firm as the start of a ‘buy and build’ strategy aimed particularly at SME practices with succession issues.

A junior solicitor who told clients, colleagues and others that she had submitted applications for grants of probate when she had not, has been struck off.

The boss of an unregulated probate business has been sentenced to a year in jail for contempt of court after failing to reveal the whereabouts of £432,000 of an estate’s money.

The partner of a deceased solicitor has received a suspended sentence for contempt of court after breaching injunctions designed to stop her online harassment of his executors.

Solicitors’ firms specialising in conveyancing and probate should know there is an alternative to the SRA, the chief executive of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has said.

Some 36% wills drafted last year contained at least one trust, highlighting the importance of private client lawyers having expertise in trusts, according to a large-scale study.

The legal services market will grow across all practice areas in 2026 for the first time since Covid, researchers have predicte, while a growing private equity presence is “a continuing theme”.

The government has no plans to review the regulation of estate planning and trust-selling practices in the wake of the collapse of Anglo-Scottish law firm McClure, a justice minister has said.