Tag Results
Solicitors on the hook for £15m in unpaid ARP premiums
Tuesday, 11 January 2011Solicitors have had to cover £15m in unpaid premiums of law firms that have been in the assigned risks pool (ARP) during its first 10 years, it has emerged. Of that, £6.1m is for run-off cover for firms that closed without insurance, and the figures reveal that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has collected just £500,000 in run-off premiums since the ARP was set up in 2000.
Tags: assigned risks pool, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Indemnity insurance, News, Solicitors
Exclusive: LSB poised to use enforcement powers for first time in “test of credibility”
Sunday, 9 January 2011The Legal Services Board is explicitly threatening the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and ILEX Professional Standards with using its formal enforcement powers for the first time over their quality assurance for advocates scheme, Legal Futures can reveal. The regulators have branded the move as neither “helpful nor necessary”.
Tags: advocacy, bar standards board, ILEX Professional Standards, Joint Advocacy Group, Legal Services Board, QAA, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Legal Executives, Legal Services Board, News, Solicitors
SRA slates LSB idea of publishing every agreement with work introducers
Wednesday, 5 January 2011The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has slated the suggestion by the Legal Services Board that approved regulators should collect and publish all referral agreements between introducers and lawyers, which the SRA estimates run to many thousands.
Tags: Legal Services Board, Legal Services Consumer Panel, referral fees, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Consumer panel, Latest news, Legal Services Board, Solicitors
OFT opposes will-writer regulation, while banks seek exemption from any new regime
Tuesday, 4 January 2011The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is opposing the regulation of will-writers, saying it may well be disproportionate and unnecessary. It has also emerged that the OFT is working with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Institute of Professional Will-writers to improve advice to consumers on executor services.
Tags: Institute of Professional Will-writers, Legal Services Board, Legal Services Consumer Panel, Office of Fair Trading, Solicitors Regulation Authority, will-writing
Posted in Consumer panel, News
SRA and BSB set to launch “legal services stakeholder network”
Wednesday, 22 December 2010The Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board are set to launch a “legal services stakeholder network”, to give the public a direct say in how legal services are regulated, Legal Futures can reveal.
Tags: bar standards board, Legal Services Consumer Panel, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Consumer panel, News, Solicitors
Anti-Jackson campaign grows amid warning of “monopoly” legal services suppliers
Wednesday, 22 December 2010Twelve law firms have so far joined claims management companies and legal expenses insurers in the campaign to oppose implementation of the Jackson reforms. The Access to Justice Action Group has already begun lobbying MPs, and also told the justice select committee that the impact of the reforms on solicitors could lead to monopoly suppliers of personal injury legal services. It has also emerged that some restrictions on personal injury advertising are in the offing.
Tags: Jackson report, personal injury, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News
End of single renewal will put focus on firms’ risk strategies, warns top broker
Wednesday, 15 December 2010Law firms’ anti-risk measures are likely to be probed more thoroughly by insurers if the common professional indemnity insurance renewal date is abolished, according to a leading industry insider. He also revealed in detail a number of “creative accounting” techniques used by insurers to reduce their exposure to the assigned risks pool by declaring premiums that may be £60m less than actually received.
Tags: assigned risks pool, Indemnity insurance, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Indemnity insurance, News, Solicitors
Crash, bang, wallop
Thursday, 9 December 2010We should have seen it coming, really. The last two property crashes and the wave of claims against conveyancers they brought in their wake broke the system for solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance – first the master policy and then the Solicitors Indemnity Fund – and so here we are again contemplating radical reform.
Tags: assigned risks pool, Law Society, outcomes-focused regulation, professional indemnity insurance, Solicitors Indemnity Fund, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Blog
LSB to 'mystery shop' solicitors and will-writers
Thursday, 9 December 2010The Legal Services Board has unveiled plans to ‘mystery shop’ solicitors and will-writers as part of its research into the market – and is looking for a panel of both to assess the quality of what is produced.
Tags: Legal Services Board, Legal Services Consumer Panel, Office of Fair Trading, Solicitors Regulation Authority, will-writing
Posted in Consumer panel, Legal Services Board, News, Solicitors
SRA to establish £3m redundancy fund
Thursday, 9 December 2010The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is seeking to establish a £3 million contingency fund to cover the cost of redundancies among its 600 staff, Legal Futures can reveal. Implementation of a new IT system and the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation next year are the reasons why the SRA has requested the Law Society to put the money aside.
Tags: Law Society, outcomes-focused regulation, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in News, Solicitors