Due to the uncertainty and economic volatility stoked by last week’s shock Brexit vote, the Law Society has told MPs that plans to give the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and other regulators full independence should be shelved.
Brexit live blog: ‘I went to bed confident and woke up shell shocked’ – City heavyweights react to unexpected decision
City partners fear a shock referendum result which saw Britain vote to leave the European Union may see businesses relocate and make it harder to UK law firms to invest abroad. Meanwhile City litigators are confident London will maintain its status as a leading disputes hub.
This blog will be updated throughout the day.
Comment: A slightly updated view from 2015 – ‘Unless you hear trumpets, Brexit doesn’t stack up’
Ahead of the 2015 general election, Legal Business assessed the policy pledges of the main parties, including the prospects for an EU referendum.
Law firm leaders line up alongside City’s biggest executives in last ditch attempt to prevent Brexit
Ten prominent law firm leaders have signed a letter urging voters against voting for Brexit in the UK referendum on its EU membership tomorrow.
FCA fines to companies drop by a third as banking scandals pass, while individual penalties rocket
New figures show while the total value of fines handed down by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has dropped by more than a third in the past year, new regulations relating to senior management has caused penalties to individuals to more than double over the same period.
Litigation tactics: Solicitor-on-solicitor misconduct complaints up a third in five years
Misconduct reports against solicitors by fellow legal professionals have jumped a third in five years to more than 2,500 complaints, new figures show.
Turf wars continue as SRA reiterates need for separation from Law Society in response to Treasury money laundering regime
In its latest plea for independence, The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) is making its case for separation from the Law Society in its response to Treasury’s call for information on its re-evaluation of the anti-money laundering (AML) supervisory regime.
‘A fundamental change’: Bar Council sets out legal impact of Brexit in neutral report
The Bar Council has published an analysis of the impacts of Brexit in an attempt to provide a neutral analysis of the debate. Leaving the European Union would be ‘extremely complex’ with the need to introduce new rules if Britain is to remain in the European Single Market, according to the report.
Revealed: SFO records £2.1m spend on Forex investigation
Having closed its investigation earlier this year due to ‘lack of evidence’, it has emerged that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) spent £2.1m investigating alleged rigging of the foreign exchange (forex) market in less than two years.
Continue reading “Revealed: SFO records £2.1m spend on Forex investigation”
The Brexit debate: The big uneasy
The biggest issue facing business for a generation looms on 23 June with the Brexit vote. We assembled a group of GCs to find out how they are managing the unmanageable.
It is the business issue that has dominated headlines for months and represents for UK plc a potentially far more profound impact than any general election or change of government. The vote on 23 June on the UK’s membership of the EU promises ominous levels of uncertainty for business and unprecedented challenges for general counsel (GCs) trying to help their companies manage systemic risks. In the second part of a collaboration withHerbert Smith Freehills (HSF), we gathered a group of senior in-house counsel to assess what legal teams should be doing now… and potentially on 24 June.