SRA confirms 2020 end of post run-off insurance cover 9 March 2016 SRA have confirmed that there will be no extension to arrangements providing insurance cover for closed firms beyond the current six-year run-off period. Any practice that has shut since September 2000 without a successor currently enjoys additional professional insurance cover through the old Solicitors […]
Implementation The UK is required to implement the MCD requirements by 21 March 2016. This requires the UK government to make changes to mortgage regulation in order to meet the requirements set out in the MCD. Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent regulator, has the […]
Amendments to the CML handbook As of 1 February 2016, an amendment has been made to clause 10 of the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ (CML) Handbook. The amendment adds the wording in bold below into clause 10.2: 10.2 We shall treat the submission by you of the certificate of title as confirmation that the borrower […]
The European Commission announced the EU-US Privacy Shield. The Shield is intended to replace the Safe Harbor framework, previously recognised as providing adequate protection for personal data transferred from the EU to Safe Harbor member companies in the USA. It is too early to say whether the new Shield provides adequate protection for personal data passed […]
The Legal Services Board (LSB) is set to instruct the frontline regulators like the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board to get tough with lawyers who do not handle client complaints properly. Firms should gather data on first-tier complaints-handling processes and also analyse data from LeO on complaints that then reach it.“This analysis can provide approved […]
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (as amended) (CPR) prohibit businesses from engaging in unfair commercial practices with consumers. The amended regulations came into force on 1 October 2014. Since then, they apply to ‘immoveable property’. As a result, they have a most important impact on the duties of solicitors in conveyancing transactions. How […]
The SRA have written to the House of Commons’ Justice Select Committee seeking independence from The Law Society and attacking the tax on Solicitors to join their union! SRA chief executive Paul Philip said in an interview with PoliticsHome yesterday: “We think that we should be accountable to the public through Parliament, not accountable to an […]
According to the researchers, there are 30 per cent fewer law firms offering residential conveyancing services compared with 2005. The number of firms in England and Wales in the field dropped by nearly 10 per cent last year alone – falling from 5,871 in 2014 to 5,357 in 2015. In 2015 law firms completed 1.03 […]
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Helpful guidance has just been published by The Law Society with FAQ’s answered and provides useful information to solicitors when changing from CPD’s and complying with the new Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) scheme for continuing competence. From 1 November 2016, any solicitor with a practising certificate, wherever in the world they practice and whether or not […]