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28 July 2020
Issue: 7897 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Criminal
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Economic crime levy

Lawyers have been asked for their views on the economic crime levy, to be imposed on anti-money laundering regulated businesses and law firms

Details of the proposals were revealed last week, in the Treasury’s Economic Crime Levy consultation. The levy will be either a single fixed percentage of revenue or fixed amounts based on revenue bands, and aims to raise £100m per year to fight economic crime.

Small businesses would be exempt, with three potential annual revenue thresholds under consideration―£1m, £5m and £10.2m.

David Rundle, counsel at WilmerHale, said: ‘The levy rests on the claim that the regulated sector itself stands to benefit directly. 

‘Transparency and accountability over how the funds are spent will therefore be critical and will no doubt be a focus of consultation responses.’

Simon Davis, president of the Law Society, said: ‘We have strong concerns that a further unjustified burden will fall on a sector already under strain.’

The consultation ends at 12.15am on 14 October 2020. Find out more at: bit.ly/2OT9Tzm.

Issue: 7897 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Criminal
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

International arbitration team strengthened by double partner hire

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Firm celebrates trio holding senior regional law society and junior lawyers division roles

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Partner joins commercial and business litigation team in London

NEWS
The Legal Action Group (LAG)—the UK charity dedicated to advancing access to justice—has unveiled its calendar of training courses, seminars and conferences designed to support lawyers, advisers and other legal professionals in tackling key areas of public interest law
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
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