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31 March 2011 / Tony Guise
Issue: 7459 / Categories: Features , Regulatory
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A better way

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Tony Guise welcomes the advent of COLPs & COFAs

The changes which alternative business structures (ABSs) will bring about in the market for the delivery of legal services and to those firms who may not even be considering entering into an ABS remain the stuff of conjecture and nightmare-scenarios abound. However, there is a more tangible change taking place on 6 October 2011 to the way all legal service providers will be required to operate in the future.

The new Solicitors Regualtion Authority (SRA) handbook, which comes into force on 6 October requires both ABSs and solicitors firms to appoint a compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) and a compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA) in order to become authorised. What will the implications of these new roles be and what effect are they likely to have upon the regulated community? Both are creations of the Legal Services Act 2007, where they  have the name head of legal practice and head of legal compliance—the SRA has changed the titles and extended the requirement to

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
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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 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
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
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Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
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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’
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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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