Legal Services

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has launched a call for evidence on continuing competence, the first stage in a promised review of the issue that could lead to periodic checks on lawyers’ fitness to practise.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/lsb-launches-continuing-competence-inquiry

The biggest accomplishment in the battle against claims fraud should be realised in April 2020 with the introduction of the full range of reforms to the whiplash claims process. The introduction of tariffs for whiplash injuries and the expected increase in the small claims track are squarely aimed at discouraging claims which have made the UK the 'whiplash capital of Europe'.

http://www.mondaq.com/Article/886406

This quarterly civil fraud update provides a summary of reported decisions handed down in the courts of England and Wales in the period October - December 2019.

https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/insights/news/civil-fraud-quarterly-round-up-q4-2019

Reforms to the regulation of legal services proposed by an independent review led by Professor Stephen Mayson would lead to a “massively uncertain and costly system”, the president of the Law Society has said.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/law-society-attacks-massively-uncertain-mayson-reforms?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

A “disgraceful” solicitor who disappeared with over £415,000 of client money and apparently went travelling to Malaysia has been struck off.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/disgraceful-solicitor-left-trainee-to-face-angry-clients?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

An experienced solicitor has been fined £20,000 for misconduct after being duped into accepting that a woman was who she said she was because he did not require documentary proof.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-duped-by-fake-wife-fined-for-failing-to-check-id?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

A solicitor who was duped into employing a bogus solicitor, who then facilitated a £1.2m conveyancing fraud, has been struck off.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/1-2m-lost-after-solicitor-duped-by-bogus-fee-earner?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

One basic principle of personal injury compensation is the same throughout the UK. Whether a personal injury claim proceeds under the Scots law of delict or the law of tort in the rest of the UK, the injured person should be restored by the wrongdoer, so far as an award of money may allow, to the position that they would have been in had the accident not happened. This is the so-called ‘principle of 100 per cent compensation’, sometimes rendered in Latin as restitutio in integrum. There are several significant practical differences between Scotland and England & Wales in how this principle operates in practice. This article focuses on two.

https://www.scotsman.com/health/rachel-henry-and-alistair-kinley-fraudulent-and-dishonest-claims-getting-off-scot-free-1-5073272

Lawyers have until just this Friday to ensure they comply with the Fifth Money Laundering Directive, the government announced just before Christmas.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/four-days-to-comply-with-new-money-laundering-rules?utm_source=iContact%2BWeekly%2BNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=legal-futures&utm_content=

A solicitor who used £80,000 of client money to refurbish her offices – and paid out another £165,000 of client money after falling victim to two email scams – has been struck off.