Industry Insights

The regulator of solicitors in England and Wales has announced a new round of sanctions assessments. This takes the form of a mandatory SRA sanctions questionnaire. The assessment will be sent by [...]

We all know that anti-money laundering compliance is an important part of any law firm’s risk management. Get it wrong, and the consequences can be severe.  But AML compliance can place [...]

The Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) has published a 2023 update to its AML guidance for regulated law firms. The guidance is intended to help solicitors and law firms understand their legal [...]

From 1st April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman is changing its scheme rules. This means that all law firms will be required to update their complaints policy in line with the new requirements. What is [...]

As global sanctions regimes continue to evolve and expand, solicitors and law firms face increasing pressure to ensure that they are in compliance with all applicable regulations. Non-compliance [...]

Last year I wrote about whether it is too risky for solicitors to act as verification agents. I decided to find out first hand what the risk implications are, by signing up as a verification [...]

Join us for our free webinar on this topic on 22 February at 12pm, in which we will explore some of the practicalities of terrorist financing compliance. The Terrorism Act 2000 (TA) makes it an [...]

In response to the recent increase in regulatory fining powers at the SRA, the regulator and the SDT published a joint statement on referrals to the tribunal this week.  The document aims to set [...]

The status of ‘freelance solicitors’ is a relatively new regulatory arrangement for the SRA, coming in with the 2019 Standards and Regulations. Before that, the only way for a solicitor to [...]

Not long ago, our fortnightly newsletter (COLP Insider) reported the occasional low level fine for firms incurring the ire of the SRA for AML failures. £600 for a lack of risk assessment here, [...]