The UK Treasury has published an updated UK National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. This follows the previous update from October 2017 and sets out the key money laundering and terrorist financing risks for the UK, and how these have developed since the first publication in 2015. Specifically, chapter 10 documents the…
LSB launches consultation on ongoing professional competence in the legal services sector
The Legal Services Board has launched a consultation on “ongoing professional competence in the legal services sector”. The aim of the consultation is to review how regulators ensure that the legal professionals they regulate remain competent over the course of their careers. LSB Chief Executive Matthew Hill said: ‘Ensuring legal professionals remain competent throughout their careers will…
SRA launches consultation on compensation fund changes
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched a consultation on “reforms to the compensation fund arrangements”. The consultation builds on the conclusions of the past consultation on compensation, covered here in 2018. Changes have been made based on the feedback given, including introducing a maximum cap on related claims and dropping proposals for the introduction of…
Event: BSB- The Future of Legal Services – Regulation of the Market, Consumer Protection and Technological Innovation
25th February 2020 Bar Standards Board (BSB) Director of Strategy and Policy Ewen MacLeod will be hosting a panel to discuss ‘Regulation in the legal services market – structures, roles and independence’. The seminar will focus on the upcoming publication of Stephen Mayson’s Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation. Speakers will look at the conclusions of…
BSB publishes research into barristers’ attitudes to CPD revisions
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published a report on the impact of their revised approach to regulating barristers’ Continuing Professional Development. The report found that the general attitude towards the scheme amongst barristers was positive, with many welcoming the improved flexibility of the rules, however the report also suggested that there was some misunderstanding…
Revised SRA approach to CPD is well recieved by law firms
Newly published feedback received by the Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA) on continuous professional development (CPD) requirements introduced in 2016 has indicated that the changes have been well received by solicitors and law firms. The requirements, known as ‘Continuing Competence’ are available in full here and include requiring solicitors to make an annual declaration of their own…
ICLR 2019: Regulating in Uncomfortable Spaces
The following content has been provided by the panel presenting on this topic during the afternoon on Day 1 of ICLR 2019. Synopsis As recent events have shown, regulating the conduct of lawyers who serve as elected politicians or in public office, as well as those who provide legal services to others in public office,…
Incoming Bar chair warns of “nightmare scenario” over regulation
The Bar could be “sleep walking into a nightmare scenario” where new rules mean it has no involvement with its regulator, the incoming chairman of the Bar Council has warned. Richard Atkins QC also suggested that the Legal Services Board (LSB) did not have the evidence to back up its assertion that its proposed internal…
Regulators “must guard against misuse of lawtech”
Artificial intelligence-backed lawtech has the potential to improve access to justice but also carries a danger that automating law will be used negatively, meaning regulators will have to step in, a global innovation charity has warned. Nesta, which is working with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to identify and support transformative AI legal technology, backed…
Asia Pacific lawyers could benefit from no-deal Brexit
If the UK exits the EU without a deal, there would be an end to the current preferential treatment of EU lawyers wishing to practise in England & Wales. The Solicitors Regulation Authority says that the UK Government has made clear that this would be the case if the UK moves to WTO rules, ending…