Articles

SRA consult on rules to restrict excessive fee charging in financial mis-selling claims

The SRA has issued a consultation on new rules designed to restrict excessive fee charging when firms make compensation claims on behalf of their clients for mis-sold financial pro

Increased Obligations on Money Laundering and Financial Crime: Proliferation Risks

Addressing the recent Law Society risk and compliance conference Paul Philip, the Chief Executive of the SRA, warned that there would be no let-up in what most practitioners will r

New SRA Guidance on the Provision of Banking Facilities for Clients

One of the most common compliance problems to arise in relation to the SRA Accounts Rules is the prohibition against providing banking facilities for clients. This rule, which will

Challenges facing in-house solicitors

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has undertaken a review of in-house solicitors to gain a greater understanding of the issues that they face. For that review, they surveye

Rules for post six-year client protection finalised

The Board of the SRA has agreed the final rules for bringing the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) under the control of the SRA to ensure future consumer protection for post six-year

Solicitor Ongoing Competence

Following the Legal Service Board’s (LSB) “Statement of policy – ongoing competence” there had been some speculation that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) might feel itsel

SRA Proposes Rules Updates

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published a consultation relating to proposed updates to a number of their rules and codes. The main body of changes relates to the operati

SRA Approach to Fines and Publishing Decisions

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published details of the changes it is to make in how it levies financial penalties on law firms and solicitors and how it will publis

LeO Revise Scheme Rules

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has announced that it is to update its Scheme Rules in April 2023. The changes, which follow a consultation process that ended in April 2022, will relate

SRA Imposes Higher AML Fines

The New Year has seen a growth in the number of investigations into AML processes within solicitors’ firms and has produced some significant reports in the legal press regarding fi

Treasury Publish AML Report

HM Treasury has published its tenth AML report “Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: supervision report 2020-2022”, which, unlike previous reports this

The Problems with Beneficial Ownership

Who qualifies as a beneficial owner for AML purposes? Confusion often arises as to who might qualify as being a beneficial owner and the degree of checking that is then required of

Revised SRA Guidance on Sanctions Controls

New sanctions guidance At the end of this most difficult of years it is perhaps inevitable that we cannot escape the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and how this has

SRA SLAPPs Warning

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is warning solicitors to be cautious over becoming involved in abusive litigation aimed at silencing legitimate critics, known as strategi

SRA produce guidance on effective supervision

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have produced new guidance for those solicitors and firms responsible for the supervision of individuals delivering legal services includi

To DBS or not to DBS? – that is the question

We are conducting a number of external AML audits for some of our larger member firms in particular in pursuance of r.21(1)(c) of the MLR 2017. One aspect that has often featured w

Know your client – or else

There is always the risk that the client onboarding process can be seen as being little more than a regulatory requirement of the SRA and quality standards such as Lexcel or the Le

Call for Standardisation of Consumer Information

The Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP) is calling upon legal services regulators to be more proactive in their attempts to get lawyers to present clearer and more directly compar

Statute Bills and the Extent of Solicitors’ Duties

Interim and Statute Bills The critical distinction between solicitors’ interim and statute bills is that an interim bill is not final in relation to the work that it relates to, wh

Report claims lawyer impunity for AML breaches

A report by the anti-corruption organisation “Spotlight on Corruption” claims that law firms in the UK “face almost zero risk of criminal enforcement if they breach money launderin