Compliance & Regulation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned solicitors not to trust artificial intelligence to “judge its own accuracy” and remember that existing AI “does not have a concept of truth”.

More than 40% of firms of licensed conveyancers inspected by their regulator in the past year were non-compliant with anti-money laundering rules, a review has revealed.

Three law firms that failed to comply with the transparency rules have become the first to receive fixed £750 fines under the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new regime.

Lawyers need to recognise that their role comes with “privileges and obligations” at a time of public concern about unethical behaviour, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board has said.

A family law solicitor who lied to and took advantage of vulnerable clients, including victims of domestic violence, has been struck off and ordered to pay almost £75,000 in costs.

Junior lawyers want the right to refuse to work on certain matters for ethical reasons, but few firms currently allow it, research has found. They are frustrated too by the slow pace of cultural change.

The first solicitor ever prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office for ‘tipping off’ a client about a money laundering investigation was convicted this week at the Old Bailey.

The SRA yesterday issued its first detailed statement on the Axiom Ince scandal, saying the suspected dishonesty was “sophisticated” and missed by everyone else.

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned two misleading TikTok posts by a law firm for not making clear that the people featured were not genuine clients.

A solicitor who convinced a friend that he was director of a Somerset law firm and could get her a training contract has been struck off.

The Serious Fraud Office today arrested seven people and carried out dawn raids across nine sites, as it announced the launch of a criminal investigation into Axiom Ince.

The Bar Standards Board’s new social media guidance “will do little to protect women’s voices an increasingly digitised world”, two leading female barristers have argued.

Two licensed conveyancers found guilty of widespread misconduct have been disqualified after a panel described theirs as “one of the most serious cases” it had ever heard.

A barrister who used information he had as a prosecutor to pursue a romantic interest in the defendant has been suspended from practice for 26 months.

A barrister who lied to a law firm about not having any unspent convictions when applying for a job and then working there has been disbarred.