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NLJ this week: Lies, dishonesty & the factors that stop solicitors being struck off

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Dishonesty is certainly in the headlines this week, but politics aside, what happens when solicitors are dishonest? In this week’s NLJ, Jessica Clay and Lucinda Soon examine the ‘exceptional circumstances’ which can save a dishonest solicitor from being struck off.

Clay, partner, and Soon, legal director, at Kingsley Napley, cover some cases where a strike-off sanction would be ‘disproportionate’ in the view of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. While expulsion from the profession is ‘the starting point’, there are a variety of factors which can lead to a lesser sanction.

In an article which should interest all practising solicitors, Clay and Soon unpick these mitigating factors and trace consistently appearing patterns in the caselaw. For example, what amounts to a ‘momentary lapse of judgement’? What is the significance of a lack of personal gain and motivation? What makes for a cumulative approach? 

Find out the answers to these questions and more in the article here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

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When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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