Solicitors

A solicitor who forged three documents to help him in an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been struck off. He also forged the dates of legal charges and a mortgage deed.

A woman who set up a fake law firm email address so as to provide a bogus reference to a real firm looking to employ her has been banned from working in the profession.

The low number of suspicious activity reports made by solicitors relating to possible terrorist financing indicates under-reporting, a senior policeman told the profession this week.

A study of 40 law firms which suffered a cyber-attack over the past three years has found that more than £4m of client money was stolen from 23 of them.

A new law ensuring that employees signing non-disclosure agreements receive independent legal advice will “increase the onus” on solicitors to act properly when drafting them, the government has said.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to check 7,000 law firms’ compliance with anti-money laundering regulations after an initial sweep found that too many were not complying.

The largest study of the ethics of in-house lawyers ever undertaken has shown a “gloomy picture” of lawyers wedded first to the commercial objectives of the companies they work for.

A finding of serious misconduct against a solicitor does not require striking off or an immediate suspension from practice, the High Court has ruled.

Dozens of UK law firms are providing corrupt individuals with services that enable them to “move, hide and defend their ill-gotten gains with impunity”, Transparency International has claimed.

The head of a bogus solicitors’ firm has received a 10-year director’s disqualification for running the business with a total lack of integrity.