Market intelligence for law firms of the future
Regulation
Bar Council finds mixed picture of success for BME graduates getting BPTC place and pupillage
The link between ethnicity and success on the Bar professional training course and in attaining pupillage is more nuanced than the big gap between white and non-white candidates presented by the Bar Standards Board, the Bar Council has claimed. New research said some ethnic groups performed as well as their white counterparts, while others did not.
April 23rd, 2018
CILEx Regulation seeks to reassure Lord Chief Justice over alternative business structures
CILEx Regulation has moved to reassure the Lord Chief Justice over his concerns about its application to license alternative business structures. The regulator of chartered legal executives said that it would only look to regulate firms “that are relatively low risk and straightforward”.
April 20th, 2018
BSB investigates how chambers advertise for and recruit pupils to check for “unjustified” barriers
The Bar Standards Board is reviewing whether there are “unjustified and discriminatory barriers to pupillage” at the advertising and recruitment stage, Legal Futures can reveal. Forming part of the Future Bar Training programme, it reflects concerns that access to pupillage is one of the biggest barriers to increasing diversity at the Bar.
April 20th, 2018
Ethics expert calls on SRA to take tougher approach to NDAs
The Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to take a tougher approach to non-disclosure agreements, a leading legal ethics expert has told MPs. Professor Richard Moorhead linked the issue to a wider approach to ethics among solicitors that he described as “minimalistic professionalism”, including wrongly seeing the client’s interests as paramount.
April 19th, 2018
Barrister suspended for repeating false rape claims about colleague and contacting his wife
An experienced barrister has been suspended from practice for seven months for repeating false rape, assault and conspiracy to murder claims about a fellow barrister in the robing rooms of Crown Courts. He also contacted that barrister’s wife, a solicitor, on LinkedIn, and suggested that her husband was in trouble.
April 19th, 2018
Solicitor “abrogated any responsibility” for firm’s finances while partner used money to fund gambling habit
A solicitor who “abrogated any responsibility” for her firm’s finances, allowing her fellow partner to take £512,000 from its accounts over five years to feed his gambling habit, has been fined £20,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. She argued that he “deliberately concealed” his misconduct from her.
April 18th, 2018
Marketing chief who took referral fee kick-backs banned from profession
The head of marketing at a firm that took money from the scandal-hit Axiom Legal Financing Fund has been banned from working in the profession after he accepted kick-backs from referral fees paid with Axiom money.
April 17th, 2018
CMC which “rented” its authorisation to personal injury marketing company fails to overturn ban
A claims management company has failed to overturn the cancellation of its authorisation, which was found to have been “rented” to a marketing company which operated a call centre to generate personal injury leads. A judge said it was conducting “no business of its own” when the Claims Management Regulator intervened.
April 17th, 2018
LSB bids to allay MPs’ concerns after rejecting their plea to hold back on SQE decision
The interim chair of the Legal Services Board has explained to MPs on the justice select committee why the oversight regulator rejected their plea to postpone a decision on the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. The committee called on the board to defer its decision for six months.
April 16th, 2018
SRA unveils new rules for waivers and ‘safe space’ to promote innovation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to simplify its system for granting waivers to regulations in order to promote innovation. It is also formalising its ‘innovation space’, which it describes as a “safe space” which allows firms with novel ideas that may push the boundaries of the current rules to test them in a controlled way.
April 13th, 2018
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Associate News
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