Tag Results
Law firms to have extra year before publishing diversity data as LSB flags concerns over Bar exemptions
Thursday, 31 May 2012Law firms are to have an extra year before they must publish staff diversity data, after the Legal Services Board approved Solicitors Regulation Authority plans for a delay. But it was unhappy with the Bar Standards Board’s proposal to exempt chambers of fewer than 10 people.
Tags: bar standards board, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, equality and diversity, Intellectual Property Regulation Board, IPReg, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Latest news, Legal Services Board, Other lawyers, Regulation, Solicitors
Pioneer calls on will-writers to become ABSs and level playing field with solicitors
Tuesday, 29 May 2012The first will-writer to be granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence says she hopes others will follow suit so as to “level the playing field” with solicitors. Parchment Law Group became the seventh ABS last Friday.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, continuing professional development, CPD, Legal Services Consumer Panel, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Market monitor
18 solicitors sanctioned for money laundering breaches as Treasury warned over increased risks from ABSs
Monday, 28 May 2012Eighteen solicitors were sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last year for breaches of anti-money laundering obligations, the Law Society has reported. It has also identified alternative business structures as among the increased risks of money laundering facing the profession.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, anti-money laundering, Law Society, money laundering, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Solicitors
Revealed: niche property firm becomes newest ABS
Friday, 25 May 2012A niche property law firm in Oxfordshire has become the sixth alternative business structure to be licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Its senior partner said becoming an ABS gives the firm “additional flexibility in terms of structuring our business”.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Market monitor
Fighting the good fight, if not always winning
Thursday, 24 May 2012The last week has seen both a victory and a defeat for lawyer lobbying, and perhaps the most fearsome legal lobbying machine – the Bar – crank into action. The victory came in the surprise climbdown by HSBC over its restricted conveyancing panel. A global banking giant felled by a campaign spearheaded by the Law Society but with strong support from the likes of the Bold Group. It was pursued at a national level, with coverage in several national newspapers, and also at a local level, with solicitors talking to their estate agent contacts.
Tags: conveyancing, conveyancing quality scheme, Jackson report, Law Society, legal aid, Legal Services Act, Legal Services Board, minimum salary, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
Line of solicitors being marched through SDT for failure to pay insurance premiums
Wednesday, 23 May 2012Fifteen solicitors have had sanctions imposed by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal – including indefinite suspensions – for failing to pay the premiums demanded while their firms were in the assigned risks pool, with 15 more still to face the tribunal.
Tags: assigned risks pool, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Indemnity insurance, Latest news, Solicitors
Insolvency Service gives SRA a taste of its own medicine
Tuesday, 22 May 2012The Solicitors Regulation Authority has had the tables turned after receiving a monitoring visit of its own from the Insolvency Service which then criticised the way it regulates solicitor insolvency practitioners.
Tags: complaints, insolvency, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Solicitors
IPReg set to apply this year to become ABS regulator number 3
Tuesday, 22 May 2012The Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg) will apply this year to become an alternative business structure licensing authority, it has emerged, joining the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Council for Licensed Conveyancers.
Tags: Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, ICAEW, ILEX Professional Standards, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, Intellectual Property Regulation Board, IPReg, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Other lawyers
Bar calls on judges to halt solicitor “abuse” of QASA
Monday, 21 May 2012The Bar has called on judges to block solicitors appearing before them as plea-only advocates under the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates. There were also calls for action to end the “corrupt practice” of criminal defence solicitors demanding referral fees.
Tags: bar standards board, Barristers, QASA, Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, referral fees, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Latest news, Solicitors
In-house lawyers to face tricky ABS decision
Friday, 18 May 2012The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to push ahead with changes to the SRA Handbook that will leave it to in-house lawyers to decide whether the law requires that their legal teams become alternative business structures.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, COFA, COLP, compliance officer for finance and administration, compliance officer for legal practice, local authorities, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Solicitors