Articles
Lawyers blamed again for economic crime!March 26, 2025Labour peer Baroness Margaret Hodge urges government to extend corporate criminal liability reforms to include legal professionals who fail to prevent money laundering and economic crime. But are such calls justified and is there a danger that in doing so the public as a whole will start to lose the legal protections and services they currently enjoy?Read More
The SRA’s Evolving Approach to SLAPPsMarch 25, 2025The SRA has issued a new public statement reaffirming and expanding its position on SLAPPs, particularly in light of recent criticism of it relating to the Discreet Law case. This statement sets out the development of the regulator’s approach and how the SRA sees its role in tackling abusive litigation. This article looks at the related issues in more detail.Read More
The Future of the SRA: Challenges and Opportunities for the Incoming Chief ExecutiveMarch 17, 2025With the impending departure of Paul Philip, the Chief Executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the legal profession is presented with a moment of reflection and a significant opportunity for reform. This article looks at some of the challenges currently facing the SRA and at some of the issues that the new Chief Executive will face.Read More
Biometric Data and CDD Checks: A Data Protection PerspectiveFebruary 24, 2025Client due diligence (CDD) checking is an important aspect of the work of all law firms and a cornerstone of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. However, paper-based systems are not only slow but also are prone to clerical errors and fraud. Online electronic services have become a more effective means for firms to enhance their checking processes and to these methods has been added the growing use of biometric data as a tool to verify identities efficiently.Read More
Data (Use and Access) Bill – the potential impact on DSARs and vexatious requestsFebruary 18, 2025How the anticipated Data (Use and Access) Bill might reshape DSAR obligations, the ramifications for UK law firms, and how it might impact upon the increasing prevalence of vexatious DSARs in contentious proceedingsRead More
SRA’s Sham Litigation Warning Notice: Key issues for UK solicitorsFebruary 15, 2025The SRA have issued a new Sham Litigation Warning Notice highlighting its current concerns and underscoring its growing apprehension that some solicitors may be inadvertently (or knowingly) assisting clients in legal proceedings that lack genuine legal purpose or substance and thus risking breaching professional obligations, facilitating financial wrongdoing, and undermining public trust in the legal profession. Here we look briefly at that warning notice.Read More
Training in 2025 – gearing up to meet continuing competence expectationsJanuary 21, 2025Recent reports and guides from the SRA indicate that it is getting serious about continuing competence, and training in particular. In this article we look at how many firms will need to pay more attention to staff competence, and devote time and resources to training and verifiable competency monitoring, if they are to avoid SRA enforcement action.
Read More
How Client Money is HandledNovember 21, 2024The SRA has for some time now been obsessed with making changes to the ways in which client accounts are held and managed by solicitors. Their latest consultation "Client money in legal services - safeguarding consumers and providing redress" shows that their intentions in this area have not gone away.Read More
The Continuing Pressure for Demonstrable AML ComplianceNovember 19, 2024The issue of what is expected of firms from the MLR 2017 continues to be highlighted by the regular fines being imposed for failures to meet professional and regulatory responsibilities and was the topic that dominated much of the proceedings at the recent SRA COLPs and COFAs conference in Birmingham.Read More
Financial Services Advice and Insurance DistributionOctober 16, 2024Of all of the areas of solicitor regulation, the provision of financial advice to clients is surely one of the most complex. In this article we look at some of the issues involved and at the steps that need to be taken.Read More