Tag Results
Breaking news: Law Society council gives green light to SRA regulating ABSs
Wednesday, 23 March 2011The Law Society council has today approved the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become a regulator of alternative business structures. It means the SRA should be ready to start taking applications from prospective ABSs from 6 August.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News, Solicitors
Don’t look back in anger
Wednesday, 23 March 2011Barbara Hamilton-Bruce looks at the significant problems caused to clients when law firms suddenly shut their doors “voluntarily” and what can be done by solicitors and the SRA to make it a far smoother experience for the public
Tags: Solicitors Code of Conduct, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
ABSs to pay less to practise than law firms
Monday, 21 March 2011Alternative business structures (ABSs) will pay less to practise than traditional law firms, under proposals released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. A consultation on the fees structure for ABSs recommends that they should not have to contribute to the Law Society’s representative activities, as law firms do.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News, Solicitors
SRA approves new conflicts rule as it prepares to publish 563-page Handbook
Monday, 21 March 2011The Solicitors Regulation Authority has substantially reworked its new rule on conflicts of interest, which will come into force later this year. Legal Futures has had advanced sight of the 563-page SRA Handbook ahead of its publication on 6 April, although the new Code of Conduct is just 54 pages.
Tags: conveyancing, Law Society, outcomes-focused regulation, Solicitors Code of Conduct, Solicitors Handbook, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
Criminal standard of proof in disciplinary matters “could expose clients of ABSs”
Monday, 21 March 2011Regulators of alternative business structures could expose consumers to risk if they demand an overly high standard of proof in disciplinary hearings, the Legal Services Consumer Panel has warned. Meanwhile, the Bar Standards Board is to consider switching to a civil standard of proof.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, bar standards board, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, ILEX Professional Standards, Legal Services Consumer Panel, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Barristers, Consumer panel, News, Other lawyers, Solicitors
SRA under pressure to ban solicitors from offering cash inducements to bring claims
Thursday, 17 March 2011The Solicitors Regulation Authority is under pressure to ban solicitors from offering potential claimants up-front inducements to bring an action so as to bring them in line with new rules coming into force for claims management companies.
Tags: claims management companies, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Marketing & PR, News, Solicitors
High Court overturns SDT fines and questions absence of sanctions guidance
Wednesday, 16 March 2011The High Court has expressed surprise that the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal does not publish guidance on the sanctions it might impose, in a judgment overturning fines levied against four partners at a firm where a member of staff stole over £100,000. The case should give “encouragement to those who have been poorly treated by the tribunal”, it has been claimed.
Tags: Solicitors Accounts Rules, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors
Plant in warning to Law Society as ABS application and new handbook approved
Tuesday, 15 March 2011City firms, conveyancers and other sectors of the legal profession could seek their own sector-specific regulation if the Law Society fails to approve the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become an alternative business structures regulator, SRA chairman Charles Plant warned today.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, Law Society, outcomes-focused regulation, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, News, Solicitors
A revolution on Chancery Lane?
Tuesday, 15 March 2011News of a potential split at the Law Society of Scotland, with 165 members from Glasgow writing to newspapers to call for an end to its representative role, may well cause some shudders at its counterpart south of the border.
Tags: internal governance rules, Law Society, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
SRA to consider giving consumers guidelines on how much to pay solicitors
Tuesday, 15 March 2011The Solicitors Regulation Authority is investigating whether to provide consumers with guideline price ranges for legal services, it has confirmed. The move follows a call to provide better information to clients about solicitors’ services.
Tags: OFR, outcomes-focused regulation, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors