Free Webinar: Protect, Personal Leadership and Pivot!
We are delighted to be able to host a free event on Thursday 23rd April at 11.30am-12.30pm.Michelle Peters, also known as The Business Instructor, will guide you through the fundamental building blocks for ensuring your firm not only survives, but thrives when we come out the other end of the Coronavirus crisis.
Why you should attend
I attended this one-hour course last week, and was struck with just how useful it could be for our client law firms. We are all going to have to take time to think strategically. There is no other option.
It’s not often we promote other people’s training events. This one was so good, and packed full of valuable take-aways, that I just had to give you the opportunity to attend.
Massive thanks to Michelle for putting this event on exclusively for us. Very grateful!
Recommended resource: COVID-19 and the legal sector by Armstrong Watson
Having just said that we don’t often promote other people’s stuff…here is something else that you will no doubt find extremely valuable.Armstrong Watson have put together unusually concise and actionable (unusually for our profession, not the writers!) guidance for law firms.
It deals with the most pressing issues affecting us all:
- Impact on practice areas
- Finances
- Staff issues
- Attendance at court
- Governance and compliance
- Inability to comply with your professional obligations
- Virtual meetings and document approval
- The future
Go to the Armstrong Watson guidance
In other news…
- The SRA is to become a separate legal entity within The Law Society group, placing further distance between the representative and regulatory functions. To all intents and purposes, the different ‘arms’ already work entirely independently. Will we see any changes on the ground?
- New IR35 Rules put back to April 2021. This may be relevant to firms engaging consultants through personal service companies.
- Important Government guidance to employers and businesses remaining open during the Coronavirus pandemic has been updated. If your office is still open, make sure you are up to speed with the latest information.
- The National Cyber Security Centre is warning that malicious actors are taking advantage of the Coronavirus pandemic. As custodians of some of the most sensitive information, law firms are a target.
But most importantly, please excuse a little humble bragging:
We are absolutely delighted to have had a hand in the successful ABS application of Indemnity Legal. See the post New ABS targets ‘David and Goliath’ insurance disputes on Legalfutures.
Thus retaining the 100% ABS Application record!
James and Rosie are a delight to work with, and we are sure their exciting business will be a big success.
And what did they think of us, I hear you ask? Glad you raised it! James said, entirely* unprompted:
“Jonathan Bray has been invaluable in assisting Indemnity Legal through the authorisation process, and now provides us with excellent support in all areas of our compliance activities. We genuinely see Jonathan Bray as an extension of the Indemnity Legal team, and they are always on hand to discuss issues of concern, or to discuss ways of improving how we do things for the benefit of our clients. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to other firms”
Thanks, James!
*okay, not entirely
Practice notes and guidance
- The SRA ‘Help with common compliance queries‘ page continues to be updated. The most recent update includes confirmation that the Code(s) of Conduct do not necessarily require you to send a client care letter – for example in emergency wills instructions.
- Likewise, The Law Society is putting a lot of effort into keeping their Coronavirus FAQ page up to date. (Also recommend scrolling through their Twitter updates if you are on social media).
- Four QCs have put together a ‘Collaborative View on The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme‘ – this should be on your list of required reading if you have any questions about furlough-ing staff.
Disciplinary decisions or, ‘why let a pandemic get in the way of a good striking off’
- Timothy Peter Ackrel struck off for allowing himself to be used as a ‘puppet director’ in a property fraud worth £16m.
- Claire Louise Matthews struck off for lying about leaving a briefcase on a train. Because that’s in the same league as a £16m fraud.
- Karen Johnson, non-qualified manager of a law firm department, ‘struck off’ (Section 43 Order) for that old chestnut of backdating documents and lying to clients and opponents.
- Not a decision, but the case of the sacked paralegal who posted on social media that Boris Johnson ‘deserves’ Coronavirus, serves as a topical case study on professional ethics and using social media.
