Compliance & Regulation

Nearly six in 10 law firms are failing to publish the full cost and service information required by the transparency rules, a report for the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found.

A solicitor who practised unauthorised and handled reserved probate work for a company owned by her non-solicitor son after her firm closed has been suspended for three months.

A High Court judge has referred a solicitor and a barrister to their regulators for “indefensible” conduct, motivated by money, that contributed to his decision to overturn an $11bn arbitration award.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has called on the government to make it the sole supervisor of anti-money laundering activity by all lawyers.

The Bar Standards Board has floated the idea of publishing assessments of individual chambers as part of a new supervision strategy and encouraging smaller ones to bulk up through merger.

The Law Society has argued for a single supervisor of anti-money laundering activity for the legal sector in England and Wales.

Clients using unbundled legal services feel empowered by having control of their own case, while it is the best way for solicitors to bill every minute of their time, a pioneering family lawyer says.

There is still a “great deal of work” to be done to ensure that barrister apprenticeships are ready for launch, the Bar Standards Board has warned, even though it is set to move closer today.

Solicitors were yesterday warned to brace for a “radical” increase in their contributions to the SRA Compensation Fund following the interventions into Axiom Ince, Metamorph and Kingly.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned law firms that they must carry out client/matter risk assessments or risk being subject to a new system of fixed penalties.

The Bar Council has hit back at Legal Services Board comments on the cab-rank rule, saying that it is “hard to fathom” why it would be against a rule that supports consumer choice.

Examples of lawyers’ misconduct when dealing with non-disclosure agreements are a “cause for concern” and justify further regulatory action, the Legal Services Board said this week.

It seems “relatively straightforward” for barristers to avoid the cab-rank rule and its importance to access to justice may be overstated, the Legal Services Board has said.

Nearly 30% of firms probed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for their adherence to anti-money laundering rules in the last year were non-compliant, new figures have shown.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has cleared a leading solicitor of pregnancy discrimination against a paralegal despite an employment tribunal finding him guilty of it.