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Regulation matters: a duty too far?

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Clare Hughes-Williams & Tom Bedford highlight the importance of ensuring solicitors stay on the right side of the line when acting in their clients’ interests
  • Any conduct by a solicitor which could be regarded as an attempt to further their client’s agenda at the expense of their duties to the public and the court is likely to be the subject of regulatory scrutiny.
  • Practitioners must bear in mind that the outcome of a case will never be more important than the duty to comply with their obligations.

Following a recent investigation, The Daily Mail has asserted that it has uncovered allegedly questionable practices on the part of some law firms when completing asylum applications for their clients. It is said that applicants were advised to embellish their applications and that they were coached and generally encouraged to behave in a dishonest way, with the sole purpose of succeeding in obtaining asylum. This has caused a political furore at the highest levels of government. The

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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