Tag Results
Research casts doubt on whether work-based learning will open up access to profession
Thursday, 2 June 2011Offering would-be solicitors – and particularly paralegals – a route to qualification that does not require a training contract may not be the way to reduce barriers to access to the profession, new research has suggested.
Tags: legal education, Solicitors Regulation Authority, work-based learning
Posted in hrtraining, News, Solicitors
Cost of regulating solicitors to fall 22% as biggest 15 firms face £6.3m bill to practise
Thursday, 2 June 2011Regulation will cost solicitors 22% less this year, figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority have revealed. However, contributions to the compensation fund are set to soar – from £10 to £60 for individuals and £120 to £772 for firms.
Tags: practising certificate fee, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
SRA reignites debate over judicial assessment of advocates
Wednesday, 1 June 2011The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority today called for talks with a senior judge over concerns about the role of judges in assessing the quality of criminal law advocates.
Tags: advocacy, bar standards board, ILEX Professional Standards, QAA, QASA, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
Paying the piper for a bit longer yet
Wednesday, 1 June 2011Put six lawyers in a room and you may well get nine different points of view on referral fees. But could the end be nigh for this fierce debate, which has split the profession asunder for many years? As the Legal Services Board recognised in its decision last week – and secretly probably hopes – the advent of alternative business structures could render the issue irrelevant.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, bar standards board, claims management companies, conveyancing, Legal Services Board, referral fees, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
Planning to launch your ABS on 6 October? Think again as Kenny admits delay is likely
Tuesday, 31 May 2011It is highly unlikely that the Solicitors Regulation Authority will be able to license alternative business structures on 6 October, Legal Futures can reveal. Legal Services Board chief executive Chris Kenny has admitted to us that getting the required orders through Parliament in time is looking “not impossible but very difficult”.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Legal Services Board, News
PC fee to fall as SRA takes steps to ensure ABSs cannot “manipulate” turnover
Tuesday, 31 May 2011The practising certificate fee is set to fall by 16.7% to £350 in the coming year, it has emerged. The news comes as the Solicitors Regulation Authority should tomorrow approve provisions that will allow it to amend an alternative business structure’s turnover figure – upon which the SRA’s fees will be based – if it feels the number does not reflect the true value of the legal services provided.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Law Society, practising certificate fee, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News, Solicitors
The sorry tale of David McGrath – a warning to COLPs and COFAs?
Thursday, 26 May 2011Alarm bells are ringing in the financial services sector after a finding by the Financial Services Authority against an individual with compliance oversight responsibilities in a brokerage firm. If the Solicitors Regulation Authority, under its new enforcement powers, takes a similar approach, compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and for finance and administration (COFAs) had better beware.
Tags: COFA, COLP, compliance officer for finance and administration, compliance officer for legal practice, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
Clients of ABSs providing financial services advice exposed by Legal Services Act hole
Wednesday, 18 May 2011Clients of law firms that provide retail financial services advice and convert to become alternative business structures could find themselves without access to a compensation fund or the firm’s professional indemnity insurance because of a hole in the Legal Services Act, it has emerged.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Financial Services Authority, Legal Services Act, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Market monitor, News, Solicitors
Closing the doors of the last-chance saloon
Thursday, 12 May 2011Michelle Garlick, a partner in the professional risk team at Legal Futures Associate Weightmans, considers the changes the SRA is planning to make to the professional indemnity insurance regime and is not surprised that it is not happening as quickly as insurers wanted. But in the meantime they will be reviewing their risk assessments and underwriting criteria very carefully.
Tags: ARP, assigned risks pool, Association of British Insurers, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
Potter, Gaymer and team of top academics join fundamental training review
Tuesday, 10 May 2011A former Court of Appeal judge and the one-time senior partner of City law firm Simmons & Simmons have been appointed joint chairs of a new consultation panel to advise on the fundamental education and training review – now known as “Review 2020″.
Tags: bar standards board, ILEX Professional Standards, legal education, Review 2020, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, hrtraining, Legal Executives, News, Solicitors