Legal Services

A solicitor who falsified returns to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) so as to underpay stamp duty land tax and pocket the difference in a bid to keep his firm afloat has been struck off.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has staged its fifth intervention in the space of 24 hours, shutting down a West Midlands firm in order to ‘protect the interest of clients’.

The lawyers and others who devise and market ineffective tax avoidance schemes are often breaking the law and a few legislative tweaks will make it easier to prosecute them, MPs have claimed.

The company formerly known as Quindell has served a £63m claim against accountancy firm PwC for allegedly using confidential information to reduce the amount Slater & Gordon (S&G) paid to buy its professional services division (PSD).

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/quindell-saga-rumbles-on-with-claim-against-pwc?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

The Law Society recorded an operating loss of £5.5m on its representative work for solicitors in the last financial year, its annual report has shown.

The Covid-19 pandemic may reverse the trend towards consolidation in the SME legal market, with start-ups emerging as effective competition, according to the former boss of national law firm Cartwright King.

MPs have expressed concern that law firms, chambers and law centres may collapse because of the impact of Covid-19.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/mps-fear-firms-chambers-and-law-centres-collapsing?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

Martin Luther King Jr said the ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/blog/bsb-entities-offer-positive-future-for-the-bar?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

Belfast solicitor Ian Coulter, former head of one of Northern Ireland’s largest commercial law firms, has denied fraud offences linked to the sale of NAMA’s Northern Ireland property loan book in 2014.

https://www.irishlegal.com/article/prominent-solicitor-ian-coulter-denies-fraud-over-nama-deal

This is a live blog post of a 90-minutes video discussion with Richard Susskind and Mark Cohen about “Digital transformation and the legal function” and “The future of legal technology”. It is hosted by Legal Geek and sponsored by Thomson Reuters, UnitedLex, and iManage.

https://prismlegal.com/richard-susskind-mark-cohen-on-digital-transformation-legal-tech/