Compliance & Regulation

MPs whose constituents have been badly affected by the collapse of SSB Law have pledged to lobby the new government to take action against lawyers and others.

The Republic of Ireland has introduced ‘legal partnerships’, allowing barristers to be partners with solicitors in law firms for the first time and to form partnerships with other barristers.

The two partners of a firm whose purpose is to serve the non-legal business interests of one of them have been fined for multiple rule breaches, including using client account as a banking facility.

A solicitor who signed an inaccurate declaration that triggered the release of a £1m Covid loan to a client, has been fined £15,000.

Bullying and harassment is not limited to the Bar and “disruptive action” may be needed to create a “fair, healthy, diverse and inclusive legal profession”, the Legal Services Board has warned.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has stressed the importance of voluntarily disclosing breaches of the Russia sanctions following the first fine handed out under the regime.

A senior partner who told a newly qualified solicitor to lie in an email to a client has been suspended from practice for nine months.

A law firm that was hacked and had sensitive client data published on the dark web has been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

A law firm that failed to comply with an undertaking it gave in a conveyancing transaction within a reasonable time has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The liquidator of Public Interest Lawyers will shortly declare a dividend to creditors following the the guilty plea of its disgraced founder, Phil Shiner.

The CMA has written to seven unregulated providers of wills and online divorce services, warning them about “aggressive upselling, the refusal of refunds and failing to respond to complaints”.

The size and cost of the Law Society Group – primarily made up of the Law Society representative body and the Solicitors Regulation Authority – continues to rise, its accounts have shown.

The Bar Standards Board is set to bring in external solicitors to help clear the sizeable backlog of applications by foreign lawyers wanting to requalify at the Bar.

A solicitor who retained client money for 14 years without good reason has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A barrister who lied about having practised from a well-known London set when in fact he had never even gone through pupillage has been disbarred.