Private Client

A new Wills Act could permit electronic wills to be introduced “immediately”, rather than enabling the Lord Chancellor to introduce them in the future, the Law Commission says today.

Law firms are losing business by failing to get back to potential clients, with as many as one in five enquiries going unanswered, new research shows.

Nearly half of consumers who have a will either wrote their own or obtained it through a cheap online service, with hardly any checking the credentials of the provider.

A solicitor failed to spot a conflict of interest when a vulnerable client’s attorneys bought five properties using her money but gave themselves a 50% ownership stake in each.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to step up efforts to ensure compliance with continuing competence obligations, particularly among conveyancers and probate specialists.

Law firms are maintaining a good standard of service despite increased demand for lasting powers of attorney and deputyship work, an SRA review has found.

Cryptocurrency and digital assets are the assets of the future. But how can they be valued, regulated and retained? In this new online world, solicitors must understand how these assets will affect Wills and how to value them and include them in final estate accounts.

The High Court has praised the “ingenious arrangement” of witnessing a will through a car window in the early days of the pandemic.

A solicitor who used forged cheques from trustees or money from another client to cover up the fact she had failed to submit tax returns on time has been struck off.

A law firm which started proceedings when its client did not have standing to bring them has been ordered to pay wasted costs because it failed to check this.

Co-operative Legal Services recorded a 19% increase in revenue and 60% rise in profit in 2022 as it became the first law firm to strike a deal to offer services through Amazon.

A solicitor who told clients that the Office of the Public Guardian was to blame for what were actually her own errors in registering lasting powers of attorney has been struck off.

A full review of the reserved legal activities is not justified at the moment without a “fundamental” reappraisal of the Legal Services Act too, the Legal Services Board has concluded.

A company which specialises in trust work has launched an alternative business structure to handle both its own work and instructions from other law firms.

Legislation to modernise lasting powers of attorney, including allowing chartered legal executives to certify copies, sailed through its latest stage in Parliament this week.