CMS’ Singapore head has been dismissed from the firm and the matter reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Legal Business has established.
Former legacy Olswang corporate partner Andrew Stott has left the firm after his dismissal in late February was recommended by senior partner Penelope Warne and managing partner Stephen Millar and unanimously approved by the firm’s 20-partner board. Continue reading “CMS dismisses Singapore head and reports to SRA amid ‘confidential matters’”
Six former Cobbetts partners have been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) after an admission of failings relating to the firm’s high-profile collapse in 2013.
The six partners – which includes former managing partner Nicholas Carr and senior partner Stephen Benson – were found to be in breach of Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) principles by failing to enact an appropriate contingency plan. All six were referred to the SDT last year following allegations of providing misleading information and exhibiting manifest incompetence. Continue reading “Former Cobbetts partners fined by SDT for their role in firm’s downfall”
With the profession rocking from multiple allegations of sexual harassment against law firm partners recently, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has today (12 March) taken action to combat the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
In a warning notice on the regulator’s website, the SRA has stipulated that NDAs would be improperly used if they sought to prevent a person from reporting misconduct to the police or other prosecution or regulatory authority. Continue reading “#MeToo: SRA puts foot down on non-disclosure agreements”
Howard Kennedy and one of its former partners have been sanctioned for providing a client with a prohibited banking facility, with the top 100 UK law firm facing a £35,000 fine after a Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigation.
The ruling from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), which was published on Thursday (1 March), saw Howard Kennedy ordered to pay £46,950 in costs. Christopher Langford, a former partner and then consultant at Howard Kennedy, also admitted to facilitating payments in and out of the firm’s client account that were not related to any underlying legal transaction. Continue reading “Howard Kennedy faces £35,000 fine for lax client account handling but watchdog U-turn draws flak”
It was a prized scalp. In December, Clifford Chance (CC) became the first Magic Circle player to fall foul of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), when the firm and its disputes partner Alex Panayides were each fined £50,000 for their role in the well-documented Excalibur professional negligence saga.
It was a highly-symbolic move. But the £50,000 penalty is small beer relative to CC’s global revenues, and to the fines received by White & Case and Locke Lord in 2017. US firm Locke Lord, with a small City operation, was ordered to pay a record £500,000. Continue reading “Off the leash – as regulators target City leaders, is more to come?”
In a tough period for international firms at the hands of legal regulators, US firm Locke Lord received the largest-ever fine handed down by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) in November.
The £500,000 penalty handed to Locke Lord came after one of its former UK lawyers engaged in ‘dubious financial arrangements’ with a client’s bank account. The lawyer in question, Jonathan Denton, left the firm in October 2015. Continue reading “Locke Lord fined, Clydes ex-partner suspended, while Appleby hit by data breach”
In another twist in the Excalibur professional negligence saga and a clear sign of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) clamping down on lawyers at the City’s top firms, a case management hearing over Clifford Chance (CC) disputes partner Alex Panayides (pictured) took place at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal at the end of November following an investigation by the SRA.
The prosecution relates to Panayides’ involvement in the notorious Excalibur litigation, in which CC represented Excalibur Ventures in an unsuccessful $1.6bn Kurdistan oil deal damages claim against Gulf Keystone Petroleum and Texas Keystone in 2013. Continue reading “Clifford Chance partner Panayides to face SDT over Excalibur involvement”
Clifford Chance (CC) and its disputes partner Alex Panayides have both been fined £50,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) for their involvement in the Excalibur professional negligence saga. The sanction is the first fine ever levied on one of London’s Magic Circle law firms.
Both Panayides and CC admitted to conducting High Court litigation under a conditional fee agreement which was ‘unlawful and unenforceable’, and they also admitted to producing an advisory document for a litigation funder ‘without disclosing that it had been drafted by one of the owners of the client’. Continue reading “CC and partner Panayides fined £50,000 each by SDT over Excalibur saga”
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has handed Locke Lord its largest ever financial penalty imposed on a law firm, fining the US-based firm £500,000 after one of its former UK lawyers engaged in ‘dubious financial arrangements’ with a client’s bank account.
The lawyer in question, Jonathan Denton, had left Locke Lord in October 2015. Details of the decision published this week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) disclose that the firm had ‘failed to prevent’ Denton from using a client account for ‘transactions that bore the hallmarks of dubious financial arrangements’. Continue reading “SDT hands Locke Lord record £500,000 fine for ‘dubious financial arrangements’ of former lawyer”
A future of individual lawyers being as easy to flag down for the public as a cab has taken a step forward with the UK’s main law watchdog this week issuing plans to make it easier for solicitors to practise on their own.
Proposals this week from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) would make it easier for solicitors to provide reserved legal services including litigation without being employed by a law firm or registered as sole practitioners.
