LMS Updates for the SRA’s New Approach to CPD

November 2016 marks the beginning of the SRA’s new approach to continuing competence. Solicitors in England and Wales are no longer required to track 16 hours of continued education. Rather, they are required to reflect on their practice and identify personal learning and development needs.

These regulatory changes require a shift in the way learning is recorded in your learning management system. VinciWorks has recently updated its Learning Management System to accommodate these changes.

From recording diverse learning methods to producing completion certificates, the VinciWorks system makes adapting to the changes to CPD simple and straightforward. The changes are only relevant to law firms operating in England and Wales, and do not affect historical data in the system.

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New Course Release: Fraud and Market Abuse

50 Dollar Notes in a Jeans Pocket

VinciWorks Releases a New Course on Fraud and Market Abuse

This 20 minute course explores two of the most common forms of financial crime: fraud and market abuse. The course will expand on terms related to fraud and market abuse such as “inside information”, “insiders”, “insider lists” and “insider trading”. Enrolling your staff on this course will provide them with an understanding of the different factors affecting fraud and market abuse. It will also help them identify red flags in the company or industry. Continue reading

UK Modern Slavery Act Sends Suppliers to Jail

Modern Slavery Victim Working in Mines

The 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act Hits Big Brands

It has now been just over a year since the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act came into effect. Large companies have been investigated, with some business owners seeing the inside of a prison cell. The following examples show the importance of ensuring your company is not associated with modern slavery.

The Not-So-Free Range Eggs

In June 2016 Jaqueline Judge and Darrell Houghton were found guilty of exploiting 6 Lithuanian men and of breaching the Modern Slavery Act. The six men had been trafficked to the UK and required to catch chickens from farms around the country. They were usually not given time to eat proper meals and deprived of appropriate facilities to wash and rest, being required to urinate in bottles and defecate in plastic bags while traveling between jobs. Wages were often withheld, as well as having a salary well under the agricultural minimum wage.

These workers were also intimated by fighting dogs if they ever complained. They were abused by “supervisors” who were employed by the couple to watch over them. One of the workers said “[Our Lithuanian supervisor] Edikas sometimes punished one person and sometimes punished the whole house for one person’s mistake.”

Being a Free Range Eggs provider, the irony of this case is striking. Further, this company distributed eggs to large chains including McDonald’s, Tesco and Asda. For them to be found guilty Modern Slavery charges is a reminder of the importance of verifying a company’s supply chain. Knowing potential red flags to look out for and having an effective reporting procedure in place is now more vital than ever.
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Upcoming Course on Data Protection is Our Most Customisable Yet

VinciWorks Data Protection Course Coming December 2016

Knowing how to protect your data and use it correctly has never been more important for businesses. Regulators are racking up fines in the millions. One big breach or one misplaced laptop can have an even bigger impact on reputation than ever before.

VinciWorks is launching a brand new data protection course, combining the latest in policy and law with best practice guidelines. We provide real-world scenarios and a customisable tool to design your own policy.

The course will be available in December 2016.

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Free Sample Template for Modern Slavery Act Statement

A Young Girl Sews Fabric for a Clothes Retailer
Does your organisation know exactly what is happening in its supply chain?

Produce a Slavery and Human Tracking Statement with Our Template

Under the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act, all businesses with over £36m in annual turnover conducting business in the UK are required to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement. The statement should detail the steps that your organisation is undertaking to ensure that your global supply chain is slavery free. Continue reading

New course – Cyber Security: Practical Applications

Appropriate for all staff, the course challenges learners to reassess their attitudes towards cyber security. It educates users on the sophistication of modern hackers and drives users to adopt safer cyber behaviours.

The course is designed as a 25 minute journey through a series of short interactive apps. Each app tackles a different topic and provides actionable advice for improving cyber security. The final app is a test section which verifies understanding.

Users will learn how to identify suspicious files or attacks, explore best practices for online communication, and acquire tools for integrating cyber security into their work flow.

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New VinciWorks Feature: Single Sign-On with SAML

VinciWorks now helps clients avoid logging in separately with the ability to automatically sign into VinciWorks products using Single Sign-On (SSO).

How it wSSOorks

Single Sign-On gives you complete ownership of the authentication process and works with your company’s existing password policies.

SSO works behind the scenes to let users sign in one time to securely access all of their VinciWorks apps. For users, SSO means ease — one fewer password to remember and one fewer step to get to your work.
Once logged in to your system, there’s no need to sign in to VinciWorks separately. For IT admins, SSO means additional security and administrative management.

Techy details

VinciWorks’ SSO uses the industry-standard Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and integrates with a wide range of identity providers including Active Directory, OneLogin and many others.

Next steps

VinciWorks has developed a full guide to implementing SAML with your systems. To learn more and receive a copy of the guide, simply email your VinciWorks representative or leave your details below.

Security update: penetration testing complete and new features

Cybersecurity CoursesVinciWorks is committed to the highest cyber-security and data protection standards in all of its products. We have published guidance on the EU GDPR and a new cyber security course will be released next month.

Below are a number of updates and feature enhancements that ensure strict levels of information security.

New security feature – force password reset

Administrators can now enforce a stricter password policy across the organisation. If users were using generic or simple passwords, administrators can now force password reset on next login. To activate this feature contact your VinciWorks representative.

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Will Brexit Affect the Fourth Money Laundering Directive?

Probably not. Here are four reasons why.

The problemBrexit Money Laundering Terrorist Financing

In the immediate wake of Brexit, there was considerable confusion surrounding the details and ramifications of the UK leaving the European Union. That confusion is unlikely to dissipate any time soon. Regulatory uncertainty will be a reality until the ink has dried on a separation agreement.

Money laundering laws under Brexit are particularly flummoxing. The EU’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive came into force in June 2015. It requires European member states to update their respective money laundering laws and “transpose” the new requirements into local law by 26 June 2017.

This timetable for transposition, aligning UK and EU law, clashes head on with the timetable for Brexit. Continue reading