Market intelligence for law firms of the future
Regulation
Government floats referral fee ban and acting for both sides in bid to improve home-buying process
A ban on estate agents charging solicitors referral fees along with loosening the restriction on conveyancers acting for both seller and buyer were suggested by the government yesterday as possible reforms to improve the home-buying process. It also said it wanted to look at how competition in the conveyancing sector could be improved.
October 23rd, 2017
Struck-off solicitor wins right to sue for loans made before intervention
A sole practitioner who was struck off six years ago has won the right to sue for loans he made before his East London firm was closed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. A deputy High Court judge ruled that eight out of 19 loans at issue did not vest in the Law Society (acting through the SRA) on the date of the intervention.
October 19th, 2017
Suspended barrister sanctioned again for not attending court hearing
A barrister currently serving a suspension for conducting litigation without authorisation has now received a hefty fine for failing to attend an Upper Tribunal hearing without good reason. He was fined £5,000 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal – a large sum by its standards, although a tenth of the maximum it can fine – for failing to act in the best interests of his client.
October 19th, 2017
Solicitor who handled conveyancing transaction through unregulated business sanctioned
A solicitor who conducted a conveyancing transaction through a business that was not authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has accepted a rebuke and £2,000 fine for his misconduct. It represents the most the SRA can sanction a solicitor without referring them to a disciplinary tribunal.
October 18th, 2017
Asylum and detention specialist sets up BSB firm and law student project
A barrister whose charity, regulated as a law firm by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), was dissolved at the end of last year due to funding problems, has set up both a conventional BSB firm and a pioneering university law project to help immigration detainees.
October 17th, 2017
Solicitor struck off for “playing” the immigration system to get clients released from detention
A solicitor has been struck off for engaging in “a systematic course of conduct designed to undermine the immigration system”. His actions amounted to a “persistent” abuse of court process by issuing meritless judicial reviews to get his clients’ removal from the UK delayed, a tribunal ruled, saying its decision should act as a deterrent to others.
October 16th, 2017
Bar Council say BSB registration plan risks deterring barristers from youth court work
The Bar Council has strongly attacked a plan by the Bar Standards Board for the compulsory registration of youth court advocates, the first scheme of its type. It said the move did not address the “underlying issues of low pay and status” in the youth courts and risked deterring barristers from undertaking the work.
October 16th, 2017
Former CILEx member jailed for unregulated immigration advice
A one-time member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has been jailed for providing unregulated immigration advice. Prince Adewale Adeola, 53, was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to 11 charges.
October 12th, 2017
Revealed: Bar Council pulls plug on pioneering nursery
The Bar Council has closed its flagship nursery scheme at Smithfield in the City of London, citing a lack of places and promising to find other, “more effective” ways of supporting barristers with childcare responsibilities. The Bar Nursery – five years in the making – was launched to some fanfare in April 2013.
October 10th, 2017
Solicitor General urges legal executives to seek judicial appointment
The Solicitor General has urged chartered legal executives to apply for judicial appointment in a bid to help make the bench more diverse. At the same time, a Sikh circuit judge told them that those entering the law from a non-traditional background had to have the mindset that they are better than those from a traditional one.
October 10th, 2017
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Associate News
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