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Pulse UK
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June 20, 2024
SRA Confirms 20-Plus Investigations Into Post Office Scandal
The solicitors' watchdog said Thursday it is running more than 20 investigations into practitioners and law firms implicated in the Post Office IT scandal — but maintained it has no plans to take enforcement action because the public is not at risk.
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June 20, 2024
Womble Bond Denies Fault In Failed £126M Property Deal
Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP has denied botching a £126 million ($160 million) London property redevelopment project and said it advised competently on the instructions of a businessman who abandoned the deal because the market looked bad.
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June 20, 2024
SRA Rebukes Lawyer Over Conflict Risk In Conveyancing
A conveyancing lawyer has been handed a rebuke for representing one party in multiple conveyancing deals while a colleague represented the other, exposing clients to a "significant risk" of conflict of interest and breach of confidentiality, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said Thursday.
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June 20, 2024
Solicitor Standing As MP Amid Concerns About Rule Of Law
Longtime solicitor Kevin Bonavia is among many in the legal profession who are using their legal background to run in this summer's general election, as he tells Law360 that politicians have "lost a sense of doing things by the rules."
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June 20, 2024
RPC Hires Ex-Leigh Day Competition Head In London
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP has said that it has recruited the former head of competition at Leigh Day to boost its capability in collective actions and environmental claims.
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June 20, 2024
Law Firm Wrongly Axed Pregnant Lawyer's Promotion
A law firm discriminated against a solicitor when it withdrew its offer to promote her to director after learning she was pregnant and later fired her, an employment tribunal has ruled.
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June 19, 2024
Rosling King And Ex-Client Clash Over Negligence Claim
Tonstate Group and its former legal counsel Rosling King LLP sought Wednesday to toss parts of each other's cases in the claim by the investment company accusing the law firm of negligently managing litigation against Tonstate's ex-CEO.
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June 19, 2024
British Bar Mentoring Scheme Surges To Record High
A record number of barristers' chambers are taking part in a mentoring program designed to boost diversity at the commercial bar, a specialist association for commercial barristers has said, as the profession strives to improve representation.
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June 19, 2024
Linklaters Adds Microsoft Copilot To Suite Of AI Tools
Linklaters LLP said Wednesday that it has added Microsoft 365's Copilot program to its suite of artificial intelligence tools and that it will be made available to its global staff of 6,000 employees over the summer.
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June 19, 2024
Barrister Sanctioned Over Fight At The Opera
A barrister was sanctioned by a disciplinary board on Wednesday for getting into a fistfight at an opera as the panel found that he had behaved in a way that is likely to diminish public trust in the legal profession.
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June 19, 2024
Lawyers Set Out Wishlist For Next UK Government
Both the main political parties offered ideas for tackling the mounting backlog in the country's courts as they set out their manifestos for the general election, but lawyers in England and Wales have a few more items on their wishlist for the incoming government.
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June 18, 2024
Perkins Coie Names Private Capital And Fund Formation Chair
Perkins Coie LLP announced Jacquie Duval as the new chair of the firm's private capital and fund formation practice.
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June 18, 2024
Freeths Unveils Trusts, Estates And Tax Group In Birmingham
Freeths LLP said Tuesday that it has recruited a former legal director at Gateley Legal as part of the launch of a new trusts, estates and tax practice in Birmingham as the firm continues to expand across the U.K.
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June 18, 2024
Solicitor Who Stalked Ex-Girlfriend Struck Off
A solicitor convicted of stalking over repeatedly kicking his ex-girlfriend's door and threatening to "sort her out" has been struck off by a tribunal Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
Solicitors' Watchdog Insists It 'Makes No Money' From SQE
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is seeking responses from the legal industry on plans to more than double its annual income from the qualifying exam for the profession — but the watchdog insists that it does not make money from the testing.
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June 18, 2024
Regulator Reminds Merging Firms To Put Clients First
The regulator for solicitors in England and Wales on Tuesday issued a new warning notice, reminding law firms that their clients' interests must be the top priority during legal industry mergers and acquisitions.
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June 18, 2024
Judges Fight For Higher Pay When Acting In Senior Roles
A group of judges told the Employment Tribunal on Tuesday that they are being unfairly underpaid, arguing that when they occasionally act in more senior roles they should be paid the same as the judges in those higher positions.
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June 18, 2024
Akin Elects US, London Duo To Take Over From Veteran Chair
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP said on Tuesday that it has elected the partner in charge of its New York office and a corporate specialist in London to jointly lead the firm as its longtime chair prepares to step down next year.
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June 24, 2024
Leading Blockchain Lawyer Joins Lawrence Stephens
Lawrence Stephens Ltd. has hired a litigator with expertise in blockchain technology and digital assets from Shoosmiths amid growing demand from clients for advice on cryptocurrency asset recoveries and all other issues associated with emerging technologies.
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June 17, 2024
Solicitor Accuses MI5 Of Breaching Her Rights With Spy Alert
A solicitor and her son argued in a London tribunal Monday that the U.K. Security Service had unfairly labeled her as a spy for China, saying the security service had unlawfully and unfairly acted against her, breaching her human rights.
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June 17, 2024
First Pro Bono Recognition List Honors 3,760 Lawyers
The attorney general's pro bono committee unveiled Monday its inaugural recognition list to celebrate 3,760 lawyers who have dedicated significant time to provide free legal service to those in need in England and Wales.
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June 17, 2024
Law Firm Worker Wins Bid To Quash Disciplinary Sanctions
A legal worker successfully got his sanction quashed by a disciplinary tribunal on Monday, with the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal overturning a ban placed on him for allegedly misleading the court and pretending to be a solicitor when he was not qualified in England and Wales.
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June 17, 2024
Next Gov't Urged To Install Criminal Justice Reforms
A criminal justice advocacy group on Monday said the next British government should be transparent and honest about its ability to fix the country's criminal justice system and proposed measures to address overcrowded prisons and a backlog in Crown Court cases.
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June 17, 2024
Addleshaw Goddard Steers Refinancing For Injury Law Firm
Personal injury firm Fletchers Solicitors said Monday it has struck a refinancing deal with Legal & General-backed asset manager Pemberton, in an agreement steered by Addleshaw Goddard LLP.
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June 17, 2024
Browne Jacobson's Revenue Tops £118M In New Record
Browne Jacobson LLP revealed in its latest financial results on Monday that its revenue has topped £118 million ($150 million), an all-time high for the firm, whose income has more than doubled in the past 10 years.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Justice Gap Demands Look At New Legal Service Models
Current restrictions on how lawyers structure their businesses stand in the way of meaningful access to justice for many Americans, so states should follow the lead of Utah and Florida and test out innovative law firm business models through regulatory sandboxes, says Zachariah DeMeola at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.
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Opinion
New NJ Fed. Rule On Litigation Funding Should Be Welcomed
The District of New Jersey's new local civil rule on litigation funding disclosure has faced exaggerated criticisms when it is a logical extension of the current practices in many U.S. jurisdictions, leads to greater transparency for the parties and the court without unduly burdening the parties, and is a positive development particularly in product liability cases, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Lessons In Civility From The Alex Oh Sanctions Controversy
Alex Oh’s abrupt departure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and admonishment by a D.C. federal judge over conduct in an Exxon human rights case demonstrate three major costs of incivility to lawyers, and highlight the importance of teaching civility in law school, says David Grenardo at St. Mary's University.
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Rebuttal
US Legal System Can Benefit From Nonlawyer Ownership
Contrary to claims made in a recent Law360 guest article, nonlawyer ownership has incrementally improved the England and Wales legal system — with more innovation and more opportunities for lawyers — and there is no reason why those outcomes cannot also be achieved in the U.S., say Crispin Passmore at Passmore Consulting and Zachariah DeMeola at the University of Denver.
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Increasing Investment Scams Can Implicate Lawyers, Too
With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for increased financial fraud, it's important to recognize that these scams are not only devastating for victims, they also pose a significant threat to law firms and individual solicitors who fail to do their due diligence, say James Darbyshire at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Heather Clark at Burness Paull.
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UK Lawyers Can Adapt Due Diligence To Screen New Clients
As COVID-19-related fraud gains pace, U.K.-based practitioners should help combat money laundering by using alternative methods to verify that new clients are who they say they are, says Christopher Convey, a barrister at 33 Chancery Lane and chair of the Bar Council's Money Laundering Working Group.
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Key Risks And Developments For UK Law Firm Culture In 2020
In 2020, law firms throughout the U.K. will be increasingly reshaped by rapid changes in societal expectations and advances in technology, say Helen Rowlands and Niya Phiri of Clyde & Co.
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#MeToo Pressure On UK Businesses Is Set To Rise
Recent declarations by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority indicate that sexual harassment in the U.K.'s financial services industry may lead to consequences under the newly expanded Senior Managers and Certification Regime, and other sectors are facing growing scrutiny as well, say attorneys at Covington.
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Corporate Wrongdoing Risks Go Beyond Exec Departures
Recent controversy over misconduct allegations that led to the ousting of a KPMG executive reminds firms that the challenges caused by suspecting or uncovering internal wrongdoing are not so easily solved by the implicated executive's exit, says Sarah Chilton of CM Murray.
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2 Perspectives On Navigating The Litigation Funding Process
Paul Martenstyn of Vannin Capital and Daniel Spendlove of Signature Litigation share their top tips on how to get a case funded, drawing from their respective experience as a funder and a lawyer.
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Answers To Key Legal Finance Ethics Questions
While there is discussion in some quarters about new regulations on commercial legal finance, the hands-off approach taken by the majority of courts and legislatures is an implicit recognition that it is already sufficiently regulated, says Danielle Cutrona of Burford Capital.
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New Scrutiny For NDAs In Sexual Harassment Matters
Recent government scrutiny of nondisclosure agreements related to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Steve Wynn and Harvey Weinstein raises the question of whether some uses of NDAs could amount to obstruction of justice or a violation of lawyers' ethical obligations, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Opinion
SRA Should Not Condemn Lawful Tax Avoidance
In suggesting that solicitors who facilitate tax avoidance breach its code of conduct, the Solicitors Regulation Authority fails to distinguish between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion, says attorney Martin Kenney.
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Proposed Arbitration Law May Be A Misstep For India
A proposed Indian law, which could have the effect of excluding non-Indians from acting as arbitrators, is threatening to undermine the country's ambition to become an important seat of international arbitration, says Sarosh Zaiwalla of Zaiwalla & Co.
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British Overseas Territories Can Benefit From Transparency
British overseas territories have pushed back against a recent U.K. measure requiring them to create publicly accessible registers of companies' beneficial owners. However, considering global trends toward transparency, perhaps the territories should embrace the new rules as a force of good, says Simon Airey of Paul Hastings LLP.