CQS time for approval falls from 90 to 70 days

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Waiting for your Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) Accreditation? Further to a Today’s Conveyancer Freedom of Information (FOI) Request to the Law Society, we can report that, due to numerous improvements made by the body to the CQS scheme over the last few months, the total average time for processing both new and re-accreditation applications has continued to fall.

The preceding months have seen a processing time start to finish go from just over 90 days, to just over 70 days within the last few weeks of our FOI request being made.

Where applications have been delayed, the main reason for the nature of delay has been the submission of incomplete applications.

In the period from 3rd August 2015 to 3rd August 2016, 128 firms successfully received initial CQS accreditation, this was out of a 181 applications made within the same period.

Law Society responds to LSB call for regulatory reform with Brexit

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Robert Bourns, president of the Law Society called on Brexit as a reason not to rock the regulation boat. He said: “During a period of unprecedented change for Britain following the vote to leave the European Union we must maintain confidence in all our markets and in particular the legal market. Uncertainty should be reduced, not increased.”

Bourns said “embarking on regulatory change in this climate, especially when there is broad recognition that the current regulatory framework is working, is misconceived.”

SRA wants reform to proceed “at pace”

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Paul Philip, chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority urged the need to reform “at pace”, saying regulation had to be in the public interest. “Around two thirds of the public think that professional legal services are simply too expensive, and small businesses agree.

“And fewer than one in ten people experiencing legal problems instruct a solicitor or barrister for their legal needs. This can’t really be acceptable. Legal services are simply unaffordable for the vast majority of the public and the small businesses that form the backbone of our economy. And the public purse does not have the resources to close that price gap.”

This is not the time to slow down regulatory reforms that will “support a healthy, legal market, inject more competition and innovation, provide opportunities for solicitors and improve access to law”.

Law Society produce template for SRA consultation

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The SRA consultation on new separate codes of conduct for solicitors and firms, which will give more freedom for solicitors to deliver legal services outside regulated firms, and a separate consultation aimed at simplifying the accounts rules will both close on 21 September.

‘The changes proposed by the SRA have huge implications for the solicitor profession and for clients. It is vital the profession has its say on these proposals,’ said Law Society chief executive Catherine Dixon.

‘Our template is designed to make that process easier, and maximise the number of solicitors contributing to this important consultation,’ she added.

‘We know solicitors from all over the country are gravely concerned about the SRA proposals as they fear that the reputation and standing of solicitors will be tarnished if these changes go ahead, resulting in two tiers of solicitors and vital client protections lost depending on where the solicitor is working.

‘Each solicitor will have their own experiences and draw their own conclusions on these proposals. A comprehensive response from the profession can only help improve the final decision.’

Law Society urges profession to give views on ‘dramatic’ change

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Law Society urges profession to give views on ‘dramatic’ change

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s proposed reforms to the SRA handbook and accounts rules risk ‘weakening client protection’ and ‘damaging the reputation of the solicitor profession both at home and abroad’, the Law Society has warned.

The Society has urged solicitors to give feedback on the changes, and has released guidance, case studies and a template submission to help solicitors.

SRA attacks The Law Society as technical regulator

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Responding to the interim report from the Competition and Markets Authority legal services study, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said: “Those who represent a party cannot also regulate it. Measures that regulators could take to open up the market to competition are resisted by their representative arms, who naturally seek to protect the interests of their members.”

The comments are thinly veiled criticisms of the current structure, which retains the Law Society as the technical regulator of the profession, albeit delegating its authority to the SRA.

The society and the SRA are battling over the future shape of regulation. In its comments yesterday, the authority said that the current situation “leads to public confidence and trust in regulated providers being undermined”.

It went on to claim that complete separation for the SRA “would free up the professional bodies to become the voice of their members, without the restrictions of also acting as the regulator. It would also allow more flexibility for law firms and solicitors to decide how specific industry bodies, such as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers or the City of London Law Society, can work alongside professional bodies to best meet their needs”.

The SRA maintained that “public polling shows that independent regulation would boost trust in solicitors”.

Conveyancing sees 24% rise in Q2

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Conveyancing transactions rose by a healthy 24 per cent in the second quarter of this year, according to a report from Search Acumen, which monitors the sector. Researchers attributed the rise to reforms to stamp duty and land tax. From the beginning of April, the government levied a stamp duty surcharge on second homes, a move that appears to have triggered a rush to buy before the deadline.

Whatever is causing the boom, conveyancing law firms are benefiting, say the researchers. Firms at the top of the market completed more than 3,500 transactions during the quarter. That was a rise of 17 per cent over the first quarter of this year. More impressively, the most recent transaction rate was more than 40 per cent above last year’s second-quarter rate.

The report pointed to a slight rise over the last year in the number of solicitors’ practices offering residential conveyancing services – up from 4,177 to 4,281

Buy to Let investors to pay income tax rather than CGT

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Ministers’ ‘back door’ amendments penalise buy-to-let investors 

Ministers have sneaked amendments to proposed legislation on buy-to-let properties through the back door, lawyers’ leaders complained yesterday.

They claim that the move will create uncertainty as investors will be forced to pay income tax rather than a capital gains tax on investment properties.

Law Society chiefs said that significant amendments to the Finance Bill were “slipped in at committee stage” and that doing so “set a disturbing precedent of avoiding proper consultation and scrutiny”. Catherine Dixon, the society’s chief executive, complained: “By introducing a significant change in this way, the government is denying the public the chance to consider and comment on these proposals.

“The way these changes were introduced, in particular without consultation on the draft legislation before it was added to the bill at such a late stage, starts to feel like legislation by stealth.”

In comments to the government on the Finance Bill’s land transactions clauses the society said: “The average buy-to-let investor will have assumed that it will be taxed at capital gains tax rates on ultimate disposal of the property.

“If the government’s intention were to change this, then the society’s view is that this should have been subject to proper consultation on the principle, policy and the draft legislation. If the government’s intention is not to change this, then the society considers that the terms of the legislation should be amended to reflect that.”

SRA fines ABS £7,500 plus costs for emails made up from client

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Currently, the SRA has the power to fine firms and individuals up to a maximum of £2,000, with any regulatory breach that requires a higher penalty sent to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The limit on fines for ABSs is currently £50m for individuals and £250m for firms.

A decision published on the SRA’s website states that Borley worked in the property department at Morecrofts, Liverpool, between June 2009 and November 2014 when the firm reported him to the SRA.

During his employment, Borley was found to have created two emails which were purportedly from a client.

‘These emails had the potential to cause loss to this client as they purported to give instructions to the firm to use part of the funds held for this client to settle sums due on other matters that were unconnected with this client,’ the decision states.

‘It was found that Mr Borley took steps to conceal his actions and that his conduct misled the firm’s finance partner.’

’It was found that Mr Borley’s conduct was dishonest and that his actions also breached principles 2 and 6 of the SRA principles. Borley was given a written rebuke and ordered to pay a financial penalty of £7,500. He was also ordered to pay the SRA’s costs of £1,350 in investigating the matter. The decision states that Borley’s current practising details are unknown.

The SRA made a section 43 order (control of non-qualified staff), saying it would be undesirable for Borley to be involved in a legal practice in any of the ways described in its decision, except in accordance with the regulator’s permission.

Paul Wilkinson joins as MD

/in /by

ACL Logo

PVW Pic

Paul Wilkinson has joined Audit Compliance Limited as Managing Director and has over 20 years experience assisting Legal practices to manage their business and to maintain quality standards and compliance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) Code of Conduct 2011 , Outcome Focussed Regulation (OFR) and the SRA Accounts Rules (SAR).

Paul is Managing Director of Audit Compliance Ltd       acl-logo

Audit Compliance prepare firms for Quality and Compliance Audits for the Law Society’s Lexcel Accreditation,  Conveyancing Quality Scheme [CQS] and Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme [WIQS] and the Legal Aid Agency’s [LAA] Specialist Quality Mark [SQM].

Audit Compliance have a complete Office Procedures Manual with law firm’s policies and procedures and forms which has been successfully adopted and audited by firms accredited with the Law Society’s Lexcel 6.0, CQS and WIQS including the Core Practice Management Standard, LawNet Quality Standard, ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System and SQM. the SRA Risk Index, the EU Consumer ADR Directive and the Legal Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling requirements [LeO].

adrg-logoPaul is an ADRg Accredited mediator in Civil and Commercial Mediation

uowl-logo

Lecturer on Mediation at University of West London LLM International Investment and Arbitration Law.

middx-lawq-soc-logo

Trainer and Lecturer in Anti Money Laundering, Complaints Handling, Compliance, Costs, Practice Management and Regulatory Affairs and provider of ‘in house’ training for Continuing Competence.

Provider of Compliance Officer Legal Practice [COLP] and Compliance Officer Finance Administration  [COFA] compliance training for both start-up and existing law firms and for the Middlesex Law Society.

Specialist Training and guidance in preparing for certification to ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System and the new BS 76000 Human resource-Valuing people-Management system.

Contact : Paul.Wilkinson@auditcompliance.co.uk

Consulting : Paul Wilkinson Consulting