Tag Results
SRA backs alternatives to “sledgehammer” of intervention in troubled law firms
Tuesday, 9 November 2010A Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) committee has approved a range of alternatives to the “sledgehammer” of intervention in troubled law firms, even though they pose a greater risk of default or increased loss. The SRA’s compliance committee backed approaches such as targeted practising certificate conditions and giving firms limited time to correct breaches, transfer or close altogether. In some circumstances, pre-packaged administration might be appropriate.
Tags: intervention, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
Edmonds backs BSB as advocacy regulator; MR warns over “consumer fundamentalism”
Sunday, 7 November 2010The Bar Standards Board (BSB) should be the sole regulator for advocacy, the chairman of the Legal Services Board has said. Speaking at a BSB-organised session at Saturday’s Bar Council annual conference in London, David Edmonds said he agreed with the Master of Rolls, Lord Neuberger, who had earlier told the conference that the number of regulators “all regulating [advocacy] is ridiculous” and that if the 2007 Legal Services Act “does not lead to activity-based regulation, it will have failed”.
Tags: advocacy, bar standards board, ILEX Professional Standards, Legal Services Act, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Barristers, Legal Executives, Legal Services Board, News, Solicitors
Sampson: ABSs put pressure on LeO to determine boundaries of its jurisdiction
Thursday, 4 November 2010The Legal Ombudsman service needs to work out the limits of its jurisdiction “and quickly”, as new business models emerge, chief ombudsman Adam Sampson has said. Mr Sampson said that with the pace of legal services reform accelerating and the legal services market “rapidly moving away from a reliance on the high street solicitor” and towards new providers entering the market “with very different business models”, it is very important to consumers that LeO is clear about what is and is not within its jurisdiction.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, complaints, Legal Ombudsman, LeO, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Client care, Legal Ombudsman, News, Regulation
Exclusive: SRA and OFT stump up £60,000 to help fund LSB will-writing research
Wednesday, 3 November 2010The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have each pledged around £30,000 to support the Legal Services Board’s (LSB) research into the will-writing market, Legal Futures can reveal. However, the Law Society has declined to contribute, citing concerns over the impact its involvement could have on how the impartiality of the research is viewed.
Tags: Law Society, Legal Services Board, Legal Services Consumer Panel, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Regulation Authority, will-writing
Posted in Consumer panel, Legal Services Board, News, Solicitors
Solicitors to bear vast bulk of LSB and Legal Ombudsman’s £25m annual running costs
Monday, 1 November 2010Solicitors are set to shoulder the vast majority of the Legal Services Board (LSB) and Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO) £25m annual running costs for the next three years at least, it emerged today. The LSB confirmed that it would proceed with its plan to levy its own £5m costs on the basis of the number of authorised persons overseen by each approved regulator, and most of LeO’s £20m costs based on the number of complaints generated by each group.
Tags: Bar Council, Barristers, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Institute of Legal Executives, Law Society, Legal Executives, Legal Ombudsman, Legal Services Act, Legal Services Board, Master of the Faculties, Solicitors, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Legal Executives, Legal Ombudsman, Legal Services Board, News, Other lawyers, Regulation, Solicitors
383 firms still in the ARP as insurers strongly back indemnity reform plan
Friday, 29 October 2010There are 383 law firms currently in the assigned risks pool, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. The news comes as the Association of British Insurers (ABI) gave a strong welcome to an independent report on the need for reform of professional indemnity insurance, saying the market can no longer tolerate periodic crises caused by a combination of “poorly enforced regulation and restrictive policy requirements”.
Tags: ARP, assigned risks pool, Association of British Insurers, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Indemnity insurance, News, Solicitors
PII premium pot “could hit” £300m as SRA study recommends insurance reform
Thursday, 28 October 2010The escalating cost of professional indemnity insurance may mean the total premium pot for solicitors approaches £300m this year, the first time it will have exceeded the last contribution to the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, a leading broker has predicted. The news comes as a report on PII commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority recommended a range of reforms to the scheme, including removing the minimum terms and conditions in relation to commercial clients, ending the single renewal date and no longer requiring insurers to cover firms that have not paid their premiums.
Tags: assigned risks pool, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA
Posted in Indemnity insurance, News, Solicitors
Edmonds calls for SRA flexibility on pre-ABS deals with investors to level playing field
Wednesday, 27 October 2010The chairman of the Legal Services Board has called on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to be more flexible in its approach to law firms which are looking to do deals with external investors before alternative business structures (ABSs) become a reality on 6 October 2011. In a major speech, David Edmonds also suggested that the rules which prevent solicitors having unregulated separate businesses carrying out unreserved legal work are anti-competitive.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, external investment, Legal Services Board, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA
Posted in Alternative business structures, Legal Services Board, Market monitor, News, Solicitors
SRA says ABSs are likely to prove good news for solicitors and consumers alike
Tuesday, 26 October 2010There is real potential for alternative business structures (ABSs) to have a positive impact on both the profession and consumers, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. The provisional conclusions of an equality impact assessment said solicitors would benefit from improved employment opportunities, while ABSs would facilitate improved access to legal services for consumers.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, BME, small firms, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News
SRA unveils new draft of Handbook to govern both law firms and ABSs from October 2011
Wednesday, 20 October 2010The updated draft of the single Handbook that will govern both traditional law firms and alternative business structures from October 2011 is being unveiled today by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This is the last opportunity to comment on it. The latest stage in the SRA’s move to outcomes-focused regulation also includes a call for the Legal Services Board to extend the definition of reserved legal activities to cover all “solicitor activities”.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, conflicts of interest, Legal Services Board, outcomes-focused regulation, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Code of Conduct, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Legal Services Board, News, Solicitors