90% of law firms “breaching transparency rules” – Legal Futures
‘The news comes with the regulator planning to step up its checks.’
Legal Futures, 15th June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Category: solicitors
Success fees in 1975 Act claims: SH v NH [2020] EWHC 1134 – New Square Chambers
‘The Family Division has determined that a claimant’s success fee should be awarded to her as part of her award under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.’
New Square Chambers, June 2020
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
Covid-19 being used to “stall” brain injury claims – Litigation Futures
‘Just over a quarter (26%) of defendants are using Covid-19 as an excuse to stall brain injury claims, despite guidelines urging the parties to take a consensual approach, research has suggested.’
Litigation Futures, 9th June 2020
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
New instructions “returning to pre-lockdown levels” – Legal Futures
‘New instructions have been running at about 70% of the pre-lockdown level over the past two and a half months, but there are definite signs of a revival, with conveyancing roaring back, new figures have shown.’
Legal Futures, 9th June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
SRA to press ahead with launch of SQE in autumn 2021 – Legal Futures
‘The Covid-19 crisis will not stop the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) in September 2021, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided.’
Legal Futures, 8th June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Compensation Fund cuts would be “devastating” – Legal Futures
‘Cutting the maximum size of Compensation Fund awards from £2m to £500,000 could have a “devastating” impact on “unlucky claimants”, the Law Society has warned.’
Legal Futures, 4th June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Group litigation – taking the lead – Doughty Street Chambers
‘Dominic Lis Waniso Lungowe & ors v Vedanta Resources PLC & anor [2020] EWHC 749 (TCC) gives important guidance on the position and role of lead solicitors in group litigation. It highlights the need for careful written arrangements setting out the relationship between lead and other solicitors and their respective responsibilities.’
Doughty Street Chambers, 19th May 2020
Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk
‘Sham marriage’ solicitor loses strike-off appeal – Legal Futures
‘The High Court has dismissed an appeal by a solicitor struck off after telling an undercover television reporter that he would help them apply for a visa on the back of a bogus marriage.’
Legal Futures, 4th June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Solicitor and wife witness client’s will via WhatsApp video – Legal Futures
‘A solicitor and his wife have used WhatsApp video to witness a will made by a man who was very ill with Covid-19, it has emerged.’
Legal Futures, 2nd June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Solicitor and firm sanctioned over property work – Legal Futures
‘A law firm earned some £800,000 in fees on three failed property development schemes as well as ‘quick sale’ conveyancing where it acted for both sides, a tribunal has heard.’
Legal Futures, 1st June 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Call for review of regulator costs in unsuccessful prosecutions – Legal Futures
‘The Law Commission should review whether regulators such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) should be insulated from costs orders in disciplinary actions they lose, a Court of Appeal judge has suggested.’
Legal Futures, 26th May 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Can you sack your opponent’s solicitor? You can try… Glencairn IP Holdings Ltd v Product Specialities Inc (t/a ‘Final Touch’) [2020] EWCA Civ 609 – Hailsham Chambers
‘It is well established that a litigant may restrain his former solicitors from acting for his opponent where: (i) those former solicitors are in possession of relevant, adverse confidential information and (ii) there is even a slight risk of that information being disclosed (Bolkiah v KPMG).1 But the issue in Glencairn, was whether a litigant could prevent solicitors from acting for his current opponent because that firm had acted for a former opponent in similar litigation which was settled on confidential terms. Did the solicitors’ knowledge of the applicant’s confidential settlement strategy in similar litigation (against a different party) give an unfair advantage which meant the solicitors should be prohibited from acting?’
Hailsham Chambers, 13th May 2020
Source: www.hailshamchambers.com
Anxiety among aspiring solicitors has “skyrocketed” – Legal Futures
‘Anxiety among aspiring solicitors has “skyrocketed” as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, a survey has found, with 75% of trainees and paralegals expecting it to lead to “significant job losses at my level of seniority”.’
Legal Futures, 20th May 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Solicitor cleared over alleged confidentiality breach – Legal Futures
‘A solicitor accused of disclosing to a client confidential information about a former client has been cleared of wrongdoing by a disciplinary tribunal.’
Legal Futures, 11th May 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
