An experienced partner who secretly worked on the purchase of a property where his firm was acting for the seller has been fined £32,000 for a lack of integrity.
This is definitely not advice we ever expected to be putting in here! However, a barrister has recently pleaded guilty to obtaining drugs from his client. The really tragic part of this case is that the drugs he purchased led to the death of his partner.
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Updated 1 June 2023
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced that its mandatory diversity survey will be due in the summer of 2023. The SRA will open the survey on 26 June when they will email firms with a link for reporting.
The SRA has given a reporting period of four weeks – the deadline is 23 July 2023. Firms should have received an email on 18 May with information on reporting.
All firms, of any size, even sole practitioners will have to collect and report the data to the SRA. However, in-house lawyers will not need to report.
In order to make this mandatory report to the SRA, firms will need to collect diversity data, based on a questionnaire, from all staff. The firms will then have to collate the data and organise it by specific job roles before submitting it to the SRA.
You can use the SRA’s Word version of the questionnaire or VinciWork’s SRA diversity survey data collection tool.
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Despite controversial proposals in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act to weaken the long-discussed failure to prevent fraud offence, the Bill also contains new powers for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to become an economic crime enforcer.
Currently, the SRA’s powers to tackle economic crime in the legal sector are limited to being able to require firms to provide documents ahead of inspections it carries out in relation to money laundering.
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The SRA have released further guidance and rules over the last few months. In this blog, Compliance Office’s Andrew Donovan shares the key points.
With increasing public concern that some solicitors are using SLAPPs on behalf of their clients, the SRA has issued a warning notice that tells law firms not to act for clients in this way and outlines some of the activities they would consider to be abusive litigation. A ‘SLAPP’ typically refers to some sort of legal threat or action intended to stifle public commentary or publication. The concern is solicitors being hired to inappropriately threaten and scare people from speaking up.
Solicitors should only be labelling correspondence as ‘not for publication’, ‘strictly private and confidential’ and/or ‘without prejudice’ when the conditions for using those terms are fulfilled. The new guidance and warnings make clear that confidential markings cannot unilaterally impose a duty of privacy or confidentiality where one does not already exist. Similarly, making excessive or meritless claims or aggressive or intimidating threats will result in regulatory action. The SRA could not be much clearer that firms should not be hired simply to scare people off if there are no legitimate legal grounds to make any relevant claims or threats. The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is actually considering following the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in issuing guidance on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
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As regulations are tightening and the risk landscape is continually evolving, firms are facing increasing pressure to make sure that their Anti Money Laundering (AML) compliance programme is effective. Beyond the implications of fines or damage to reputation is the very real danger of disruptions to operations and in particular criminal liability.
It’s critical for firms to assess if their AML framework is strong and robust enough to prevent and detect instances where the business can be manipulated to clean money or to finance terrorism.
An independent audit provides this assurance and enables the firm to address issues before they become a problem or are detected by the authorities.
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The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has fined the conveyancing firm, Ferguson Bricknell Solicitors, £20,000 ($24,400) for falling short of its anti-money laundering (AML) obligations. The firm also had to pay £1,350 for the cost of the SRA probe. The fine was issued under a regulatory settlement agreement following an investigation by the SRA.
The investigation found that the firm did not have a compliant, practice-wide, anti-money laundering (AML) risk assessment in place until July 29, 2022, and also failed to fully assess its product/services risks, specifically those associated with conveyancing and controlling client money, which accounted for 75% of its fee income. The risks associated with conveyancing should have been addressed in the assessment provided when the investigation began.
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From new ESG regulations to a crackdown on bribery, rapid fluctuations in crypto currency, changes to the regulated sector and the ongoing conflict in Europe demanding a laser-like focus on the supply chain, 2023 looks set to demand even more from compliance professionals.
We have created an in-depth guide to everything compliance in 2023. The guide covers the top ten items you can expect to see in your regulatory inbox, with tips on next steps.
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SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are lawsuits that are filed with the intention of silencing, intimidating, or punishing individuals or organisations for exercising their right to free speech on matters of public concern. These lawsuits are often brought by private parties, such as corporations or individuals, against individuals or organisations that have spoken out against them or their activities.
Sometimes, the goal of bringing a SLAPP is not necessarily to win the case, but to burden the defendant with the cost of litigation and the stress of defending themselves, ultimately discouraging them from speaking out.
SLAPPs are often used by corporations, politicians, or other powerful entities against individuals, activists, or grassroots organisations who are speaking out on issues such as environmental protection, civil rights, or consumer advocacy. SLAPPs can take many forms, including defamation lawsuits, harassment suits, and even lawsuits filed under the guise of intellectual property infringement.
Recently, the SRA issued a new warning notice on SLAPPs, in response to reports that solicitors are bringing allegations without merit at the behest of wealthy clients to stifle freedom of expression and prevent the media from reporting on issues of public interest such as academic research, whistleblowing, campaigning or investigative journalism.
The warning notice makes clear that acting in this way would constitute a breach of a number of SRA Principles and Rules in its Code of Conduct for Individuals and Firms.
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Findings from the SRA’s recent thematic review included the insight that firms need to have stronger evidence that supervision is taking place. Out of 76 files reviewed by the SRA, only 29 of them showed evidence of supervision taking place. Therefore, in their new guidance, the SRA has included a section on effective supervision that is applicable to all solicitors and firms that supervise individuals delivering legal services, including services that are provided by fee earners who are not directly regulated by the SRA.
The new guidance also stresses that merely having supervision in place is not sufficient to fulfil firms’ regulatory obligations; rather, supervision needs to be effective. Therefore, firms should take proactive steps to ensure that supervision is effective and that supervisors are being held accountable.
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In February 2022, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) published a Thematic Review, which included responses from over 200 solicitors. The SRA’s hypothesis was that “if employees are not adequately supported to manage mistakes or to manage client demands, they may be at risk of behaving unethically”. The review helped the SRA identify a serious problem in firms, with around 25% of those surveyed reporting that their firms do not have a positive workplace culture. Issues raised included being overworked and intolerably pressured to meet targets, as well as problems with bullying.
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