Solicitor jailed for role in £4.3m land-banking scam – Legal Futures
‘A solicitor has been jailed for five and a half years for his role in a £4.3m land-banking scam.’
Legal Futures, 3rd June 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Category: solicitors
Lawyer plundered more than £600,000 from elderly clients to pay for call girls – Daily Telegraph
‘The village solicitor raided the accounts of 13 clients aged between 67 and 100 and spent the money on ‘pens, pottery, pornography and prostitutes’.’
Daily Telegraph, 1st June 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
High Court rejects challenge to closure of ABS from solicitor who “lost ethical compass” – Legal Futures
‘The High Court has rejected a challenge to the closure of an alternative business structure by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). It was the first time an ABS closure decision has been tested in the High Court.’
Legal Futures, 13th May 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Court of Appeal warns solicitors over standards of ‘commoditised’ services – Legal Futures
‘Economic pressures forcing solicitors to ‘commoditise’ their advice “throw into sharp focus the need for standard form letters of advice to be clear in their exposition”, the Court of Appeal warned yesterday.’
Legal Futures, 29th April 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Birdseye and another v Roythorne & Co and others – WLR Daily
Birdseye and another v Roythorne & Co and others [2015] EWHC 1003 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 169
‘It remained the case that a person had to establish as a prima facie case that he was a beneficiary before there could be any question of the court requiring a trustee or executor to disclose documents which would be protected by privilege if the applicant were not a beneficiary.’
WLR Daily, 15th April 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Government accepts case to exempt lawyers from ‘groundless threats’ laws – Legal Futures
‘Lawyers who act on instructions in threatening potential intellectual property infringers with action are to be exempt from being sued when the threat turns out to be groundless, after the government recently gave the go-ahead for law reforms.’
Legal Futures, 13th April 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Deprivation of liberty guidance clarifies rules – Law Society’s Gazette
‘The Law Society has today issued new guidance on deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS) to help lawyers meet an expected 10-fold surge in the number of legal challenges to DOLS over the coming year.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 9th April 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Uncertainty’ over second 8.75% legal aid fee cut – Law Society’s Gazette
‘Criminal practitioners are demanding answers from the Legal Aid Agency over what they say is uncertainty regarding proposed cuts in fees.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 3rd April 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Solicitors’ client accounts: whose money is it anyway? – Hardwicke Chambers
‘If a potential defendant is insolvent, it is a matter of critical importance to the potential claimant if they are able to assert a proprietary right over money or goods as opposed to a mere personal claim for damages.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 24th March 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Paralegals could damage solicitor ‘brand’ – survey – Law Society’s Gazette
‘Paralegals who qualify as solicitors without completing a formal training contract could damage the solicitor ‘brand’, according to a survey by Leeds Law Society.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 31st March 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Solicitors fail to stop cuts in legal aid defence contracts – The Guardian
‘Criminal solicitors have failed in their attempt to prevent the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, imposing deep cuts on the number of legal aid contracts for defence lawyers.’
The Guardian, 25th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Paralegal hopes to be first solicitor admitted through ‘equivalent means’ route – Legal Futures
‘Paralegal Shaun Lawler has said he hopes to be the first solicitor admitted to the profession through the ‘equivalent means’ route rather a traditional training contract.’
Legal Futures, 20th March 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
Coulson J slashes “entirely unreliable” costs budget from £9.5m to £4.3m – Litigation Futures
‘The High Court has slashed a claimant company’s costs budget from £9.5m to £4.3m, describing it as “entirely unreliable” and “deliberately manipulated”.’
Litigation Futures, 9th March 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
No duty on solicitors to check credit status of parties, High Court rules – Legal Futures
‘Solicitors are not under a general duty to check the credit status of parties in a commercial transaction unless instructed to, the High Court has ruled.’
Legal Futures, 4th March 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
