Compliance & Regulation

A solicitor has blamed the difficulties of becoming a law firm owner for the first time shortly before the pandemic struck for his breaches of the accounts rules.

An employment tribunal has refused to reconsider rulings that went against a former law firm managing partner despite new evidence that undermined a key finding about his honesty.

Lawyers are facing beefed-up rules on dealing with complaints, and the prospect of how quickly they handle them being made public, under proposals published yesterday.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has taken the unusual step of anonymising the identity of a solicitor appearing before it after a drink-driving conviction.

A barrister who made 10 meritless applications, including damages claims worth £4m against a council, and as a result was made subject to an extended civil restraint order, has been reprimanded.

The Bar Standards Board has warned that it cannot stop the growing interest in featuring barristers on online review and comparison websites, even if the profession wants it to.

A solicitor who followed a client’s instructions to backdate a loan agreement and then did not disclose it as part of divorce proceedings has been rebuked for her “error of judgment”.

The end appears nigh for Axiom Ince, with the law firm admitting that it has stopped taking new instructions and will “likely be unable to continue in its current format”.

A solicitor who lied to Keystone Law about drink-drive convictions as well as investigations into his conduct when he joined the listed law firm has been struck off.

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.