by Rob | Jul 25, 2014 | News
I think it was receiving sympathy from my German neighbour the morning after the Uruguay game that was so hard to take. My inferiority by nationality was palpable and reflected in his smile – or was it a sneer?
by Rob | Jul 25, 2014 | News
A direct consequence of the Government’s decision in May not to make any major changes to the regulatory framework for legal services is that it simultaneously fired the starting gun for the race to introduce major changes to the regulatory framework for legal...
by Rob | Jul 25, 2014 | News
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has been given the green light by Parliament to regulate alternative business structures which provide probate services, with dozens of firms already showing an interest in taking advantage. ...
by Rob | Jul 24, 2014 | News
This year’s practising certificate renewal exercise will take place between 1 and 31 October.
by Rob | Jul 23, 2014 | News
In his first major act as housing and planning minister, Brandon Lewis has promised 165,000 new houses and apartments will be constructed in the three years from 2015 in a programme which will “change the way homes are built in Britain.”
by Rob | Jul 23, 2014 | News
The legal market is “too intimidating, too uniform and, in many cases, too expensive”, the new chairman of the Legal Services Board (LSB) has warned.
by Rob | Jul 23, 2014 | News
The number of larger professional indemnity claims is increasing, undermining the case for a cut in the minimum cover for law firms from £2m to £500,000, an industry expert has argued in a letter to the Legal Services Board (LSB).
by Rob | Jul 23, 2014 | News
Legal executives could be running their own practices by next year if the Legal Services Board’s consultation gets the green light. No doubt these proposals will have met with some robust responses from solicitors in the consultation, which closed today.
by Rob | Jul 22, 2014 | News
First-time buyers are being squeezed out of the market, with a 20% monthly drop in the number of first-time purchases in June.
by Rob | Jul 22, 2014 | News
The Institute of Professional Willwriters (IPW) has won approval for a unique alternative business structure (ABS) that will enable its members and others to access related legal services for their clients, and share in the fees generated.
by Rob | Jul 21, 2014 | News
Robert Buckland’s appointment as solicitor general is an ‘insult to lawyers’, his Labour shadow said today, after it emerged Buckland had failed to tell the prime minister that he had been found guilty of professional misconduct.
by Rob | Jul 21, 2014 | News
The average home buyer will be saddled with a Stamp Duty bill of at least £7,500 within two years if house price inflation continues at its current pace, estate agency chain haart has predicted.
by Rob | Jul 21, 2014 | News
In April 2011, changes to UK competition law meant that leases and other land agreements became subject to the rules in Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998, which prohibit the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition.
by Rob | Jul 21, 2014 | News
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has attacked the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for having “over-engineered” its approach to regulating multi-disciplinary alternative business structures (ABSs) and to approving non-lawyer owners.
by Rob | Jul 21, 2014 | News
Views on transparency and clarity “have changed” since Lloyds Bank first started sending letters to debtors under the name of a solicitors’ firm, its group chief executive has told MPs.
by Rob | Jul 21, 2014 | News
One of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders has issued a warning to solicitor firms attracted by the proposed new mandatory minimum for professional indemnity insurance.
by Rob | Jul 18, 2014 | News
MPs today lambasted a banking chief over ‘sham’ letters to lenders that purported to be from a solicitor’s firm.
by Rob | Jul 18, 2014 | News
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has reminded the Legal Services Board (LSB) of its decision to allow accountancy firms wanting to carry out legal work to have minimum indemnity insurance cover of £500,000, in a bid to head off concerns about its move to...
by Rob | Jul 18, 2014 | News
A third of suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted by solicitors seeking consent to continue working on a matter do not contain enough information on which to make a decision, the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has found.
by Rob | Jul 18, 2014 | News
A solicitor involved in boiler-room scams has been suspended from practising for 18 months by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).
