Tag Results
CPS drops charges against solicitors and doctors accused of ATE insurance fraud
Monday, 5 December 2011The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped charges against 11 solicitors and doctors who were accused of a £4m referral fee fraud involving after-the-event legal expenses insurance. The lawyers may instead be referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Tags: fraud, legal expenses insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
SRA fires the starting gun for ABS applications
Thursday, 1 December 2011The Solicitors Regulation Authority will begin accepting licensing applications for alternative business structures from 3 January 2012, with the first successful ones announced within around six weeks, it announced today.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News
Law Society set for push to improve equality and diversity practices across solicitors' profession
Thursday, 1 December 2011The Law Society is considering whether any law firm which recruits trainee solicitors should have to undergo mandatory training in equality and diversity, Legal Futures can report. It may also work with the largest City law firms to help them recruit more black and minority ethnic lawyers.
Tags: equality and diversity, Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in hrtraining, News
Litigation funder raises more cash as SRA advises solicitors on value of code of conduct
Wednesday, 30 November 2011The third-party litigation funding market received another boost yesterday after a funder raised a new tranche of money to put into cases. However, the SRA has told Legal Futures that solicitors are not under a requirement to choose funders that comply with the new voluntary code of conduct.
Tags: Litigation Funding, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
Regional accountancy firm unveils plan to become ABS
Friday, 25 November 2011A regional firm of accountants is planning to become an alternative business structure (ABS). Becoming an ABS will allow Spofforths to improve the private client service currently provided by an in-house legal team and in time become a legal brand in its local market.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Institute of Chartered Accountants, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Market monitor, News
SRA extends PC renewal into 2012
Friday, 25 November 2011Some solicitors will now not be able to go online to renew their practising certificates until 2012, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed, amid the chaotic ongoing implementation of its £22m IT system. The deadline to activate mySRA accounts will also be extended.
Tags: practising certificate, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
News in brief: Gulliford leaves Co-op Legal Services, ABS innovation award, LPO shunned, and more
Wednesday, 23 November 2011Our regular news in brief round-up reveals that Jonathan Gulliford, one of the architects of Co-operative Legal Services, is leaving the company this week. Meanwhile, the first ABS has won an innovation award, general counsel are cool on LPO, and Lord Justice Jackson says his reforms could boost lawyers’ work.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Co-op, conveyancing, Jackson report, legal education and training review, legal process outsourcing, Litigation Funding, LPO, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, News In Brief
SRA on track after ABS regime clears final parliamentary hurdle
Thursday, 17 November 2011The final legislative obstacle to the Solicitors Regulation Authority licensing alternative business structures was removed on Tuesday when the House of Lords approved secondary legislation on non-lawyer owners’ disclosure of criminal convictions and appeals against ABS licensing decisions.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News
Is it time to split the Law Society and the SRA?
Thursday, 17 November 2011We may be in an era of outcomes-focused regulation, but nobody thought to tell those who drew up the deal between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority over their governance arrangements. To me it is further evidence that the arrangement by which the SRA is both independent and yet part of the Law Society is unlikely to stand the test of time
Tags: Bar Council, bar standards board, internal governance rules, Law Society, Legal Services Act, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
Claims against solicitors over mortgage fraud shoot up to £173m
Thursday, 17 November 2011New figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority indicate that the long-predicted wave of claims against solicitors over mortgage fraud is fast becoming a reality. There are now 770 open claims against the Solicitors Compensation Fund relating to mortgage fraud.
Tags: conveyancing, conveyancing quality scheme, Law Society, mortgage fraud, Solicitors Compensation Fund, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Competence, News, Solicitors