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16 March 2007 / Simon Young
Issue: 7264 / Categories: Features , Risk management , Legal services , Profession
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Risk Management Focus

Solicitor's code of conduct, Statements of principle, Client care and costs information, Management requirements

What’s all this about a new rule book I’m supposed to learn? You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks…

Yes, there is one coming. It’s going to be called the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct, and will replace the Solicitors’ Practice Rules 1990. Latest information suggests it will come into force on 1 July 2007, or shortly after that.

It shouldn’t trouble you as much as you might think. Quite a lot of it is merely a codification of what you are already familiar with, and some of what is new is a relaxation, rather than a tightening up.

So I needn’t really bother with it?

You should certainly study it, and work out where the changes are that will make a practical difference to you. There are quite a lot of courses out there to help you.

What if I haven’t got the time for that? How on earth do I find out about
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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
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 transformed criminal justice. Writing in NLJ this week, Ed Cape of UWE and Matthew Hardcastle and Sandra Paul of Kingsley Napley trace its ‘seismic impact’
Operational resilience is no longer optional. Writing in NLJ this week, Emma Radmore and Michael Lewis of Womble Bond Dickinson explain how UK regulators expect firms to identify ‘important business services’ that could cause ‘intolerable levels of harm’ if disrupted
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’
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