The Law Society has slated the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) plans to change the solicitors’ Handbook to enable solicitors to work for unregulated entities providing unreserved activities. Law Society president Robert Bourns said the changes risked creating a “two-tier solicitor profession” with certain organisations not regulated despite employing solicitors and providing legal services to the public. Solicitors’ firms, on the other hand, would continue to offer clients the benefit of legal professional privilege, full insurance cover and protection from conflict of interest.
15 September 2016
Two-tier professionals?
MOVERS & SHAKERS
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HFW—Simon Petch
Global shipping practice expands with experienced ship finance partner hire
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Freeths—Richard Lockhart
Infrastructure specialist joins as partner in Glasgow office
NLJ Career Profile: Mark Hastings, Quillon Law
Mark Hastings, founding partner of Quillon Law, on turning dreams into reality and pushing back on preconceptions about partnership
NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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