King & Wood Mallesons’ former London managing partner is set to be prosecuted before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) for alleged inappropriate conduct towards a female colleague. Darren Roiser has been accused of “kissing” a female colleague and “commenting that she was very attractive”. The Solicitors Regulatory Authority’s decision to prosecute Roiser, which was made […]
Market frustration with the SRA reached a new high this week after the Legal Services Board finally published its independent review of the handling of Axiom Ince’s collapse. The headlines made tough reading for the SRA. Enforcement action was promised with the LSB accusing the SRA of not acting “adequately, effectively, and efficiently” to prevent […]
Litigation boutique Candey has today been cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) of anti-money laundering (AML) failures regarding a £24m deal for a Northumberland country estate in 2015. Managing partner Ashkhan Candey said in a statement that it was “regrettable” that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) “did not engage with us on the substantive […]
A key member of Hamlins’ media and entertainment team has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) by the legal regulator with “a case to answer”. Christopher Hutchings, who launched Hamlins’ highly successful media team 13 years ago, is alleged to have made “assertions which were false and/or misleading including as to the strength […]
With the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) expecting income derived from the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) to double this year, there are concerns that the regulator is treating its new way of training lawyers as a “huge cash cow”. According to the SRA’s annual business plan and budget consultation paper, SQE income is expected to more […]
A partner from Mayer Brown’s London office is scheduled to appear before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) later this year over historic allegations related to “know your client” checks. Corporate real estate partner Simon Price is set to appear before the SDT on 11 June for an initial case management hearing. The Lawyer understands that a […]
Litigation firm CANDEY appears before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) this week, alongside former partner Richard Morris, over allegations of anti-money-laundering (AML) failures. The matter regards a £24m deal for a Northumberland country estate in 2015. No actual fraud or money-laundering has been identified. The SRA alleges that the firm and Morris, who left for […]
Frustrated Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) candidates are calling on the SRA to increase accessibility to the appeals process after a results error saw 175 candidates mistakenly told they had failed their exams. On Monday last week, the SRA announced that 175 candidates who sat SQE1 in January and were told they had failed on 14 […]
The Lawyer‘s Christian Smith, Catrin Griffiths, Richard Simmons, Katy Dowell and Charlotte Lear are joined by College of Legal Practice CEO Giles Proctor for this emergency episode of The Lawyer Podcast as they discuss the latest Solicitors Qualification Exam debacle: marking errors that led to 175 students being incorrectly told they had failed. What went […]
On Tuesday last week (9 April), the SRA sought to quell a rising tide of discontent around the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). In its most recent SQE annual report, SRA chief executive Paul Philip said the public and profession could have “confidence” in this “rigorous assessment”. That confidence was short-lived. Yesterday (15 April), Philip was […]
Nearly 200 law students were incorrectly told they had failed their first set of Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) exams, in what the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has called “the most serious operational mistake that we’ve made in the last two and half years.” Kaplan, the exam administrator for the SQE, has […]
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is set to hike fees for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) for the second time in two years, while glossing over issues in the rollout of the exam in its latest annual report. From September this year, the cost of the SQE exams will increase by 5 per cent across […]