The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on whether in-house lawyers need to be policed under the watchdog’s Senior Managers Regime, in an attempt to clarify uncertainties regarding the overall responsibility of an in-house legal function under FCA rules.
Comment: Big picture, big mess – familiar turf wars as the legal education debate drags on
Legal education reform. First principles. Root and branch. It was ever thus. Attending the Westminster Legal Policy Forum (WLPF) seminar this week, the legal education community was much exercised about the latest attempts to reform the framework for training lawyers.
SRA proposes standardised final examination for all prospective solicitors
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced plans to introduce a new unified exam for assessing trainee solicitors.
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Law Society wants pilot scheme ahead of proposed court closures
The Law Society said it wants the government to test the use of public buildings for court hearings before it considers reforms which will close one in five courts in England and Wales.
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Guest post: Making the case to regulate third-party funding – badly
The US Chamber of Commerce, scarred by the American litigation culture, has long been spreading the word about the pain that litigation can cause, and has a particular bee in its bonnet about third-party litigation funding (TPLF).
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Regulators look to cut ABS red tape in Legal Services Act reform push
The Legal Services Board, along with the other legal sector regulators, has published suggestions to reform the Legal Services Act 2007 to make enforcement action easier to undertake and to cut red tape for alternative business structures (ABS).
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The ABS triangle – regulators, consumers and investors
Baker Tilly’s George Bull analyses the changing market.
The recent initial public offering (IPO) of full-service English law firm Gateley and its admission to AIM mark another significant step in the evolution of alternative business structures (ABSs) in England and Wales. While Gateley is the first UK law firm to achieve a public listing, it is not the world’s first listed law firm. That accolade belongs to Slater and Gordon, the Australian consumer law firm, which listed on the Australian stock exchange in May 2007. Continue reading “The ABS triangle – regulators, consumers and investors”
Solicitors set to own non-regulated businesses after watchdog levels ‘the playing field’ with ABSs
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided to relax the Separate Business Rule, allowing law firms to own outside businesses which are not regulated by the SRA and provide accounting services, and making it easier for them to compete with alternative business structures (ABSs).
‘We’re gutted’: Law Society loses appeal over government’s controversial legal aid reforms
The Law Society has lost an appeal over controversial government reforms which will introduce a tendering process for 527 contracts to provide Duty Provider Work (DPW) across England and Wales.
Reassessments: Bar Standards Board asks QCA to look at re-accreditation for QCs
As the on-going dispute over its Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) rumbles on, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has asked that Queen’s Counsel Appointments (QCA) consider developing a system of re-accrediting criminal silks as the body seeks ways to ‘protect the public from poor standards of advocacy’.
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