SRA compensation fund
Legal Futures and Gazette report that the SRA has proposed law firms and solicitors will pay at least three times more in compensation fund contributions next year.
Law Society chief executive officer Ian Jeffery said: “The compensation fund provides crucial protection and reassurance to consumers in contrast to the lack of protections offered by unregulated providers. Professions can only succeed if they uphold core values, such as integrity, reliability and accountability. On the rare occasions when our professional colleagues fail to uphold these values, our collective responsibility means that public faith is maintained.
“It is unfortunate that there have been such significant failings that we now face substantial increases in the individual and firm contributions to the compensation fund. It underlines the need for greater vigilance and probity on the part of our members and a focus on effectiveness by regulators. Ultimately, we accept that the role of solicitors is to protect the interests of their clients, and that we must do that, even when the costs are high, because the costs of not doing so would inevitably be higher.”
Economic Crime Task Force
Today’s Family Lawyer, Today’s Conveyancer and Today’s Wills & Probate reveal that the Law Society has rebranded its ‘Money Laundering Task Force’ as the ‘Economic Crime Task Force’ to reflect its current scope and role.
President Nick Emmerson said: “Over the last few years, there has been a considerable expansion across the compliance landscape. This includes not only anti-money laundering, but also sanctions, bribery and corruption and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which has meant there is a wider focus that includes promoting the prevention and detection of economic crime.
“The name change will provide for an increased scope of membership expertise to be recruited directly to the Task Force and wider network, add clarity to internal and external stakeholders on its role and simplicity on the scope of support it can provide to members.
“Consistency in terminology will also be achieved, providing flexibility in providing material and content relevant to members.”
In-house careers
LawCareers.Net mentions findings from the Law Society’s Annual Statistics Report 2022 in a piece about in-house careers.
Our findings show that 26% of practice certificate holders work in-house, while 85% of trainees are in private practice.
Probate delays
Gazette reports that the Justice Select Committee chair, Sir Bob Neill, has called on HMCTS to release figures on probate delays, as the committee is disbanded for the upcoming election.
The piece mentions the Law Society’s work with HMCTS on probate delays.
Post Office Horizon IT scandal
Gazette publishes an op-ed written by Mark Anderson, a Law Society Council member, on what the Law Society’s role should be in the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.
The piece was written in a personal capacity.
Also worth a read:
- House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) warns that there is little understanding of the impact of decade-old cuts in legal aid – Legal Futures
- Court observation project reports mass inefficiencies in magistrates’ courts - Gazette
- Russian litigants desert the London commercial courts after sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine - Times (£)
- Judge orders Sunak to reveal date of first planned Rwanda flight – Telegraph (£)
- EU approves world’s first landmark AI legislation – Australasian Lawyer
- Fintech company encourages in-house lawyers to use ChatGPT to draft contracts - Legal Cheek
- What is the future of litigation funding? – City A.M.
- Starmer and Sunak will hold first TV debate next week - Times (£)
- Wagatha Christie case returns to the High Court - Independent