Fraud and cybercrime: What law firms need to know
We recently had the pleasure of hosting a fraud and cybercrime webinar with expert barrister Adam Richardson of 1 Essex Court.
The session was very interesting, enlightening and practical. And to be honest, quite scary in parts – although Adam was at pains to stress he wasn’t trying to scare-monger.
In this post we look at some of the main points to come out of Adam’s talk, including:
- The law
- Trending types of attack
- What to do if you are hacked
- Prevention is infinitely better than cure
‘Transactional Greed’ Leads To A Broken Litigation Market, Says Award Winning Commercial Litigation Funder
At last week’s Legal Futures Innovation conference, it was said that there is interest from US private equity investors in the UK litigation market. We spoke to Chris Clay at Escalate to find out more.
In this post we ask:
- What makes the UK litigation market so attractive?
- What are the drivers for market growth?
- Why do you say that the traditional litigation model is ‘broken’?
- What makes Escalate different and innovative?
What To Do When The NCA Refuses Your Application For A Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML)
Carly Fallon looks at the best way to proceed in this tricky DAML situation.
Picture the scene. You’re troubled by a strange transaction and have made a suspicious activity report to the National Crime Agency (NCA). You’d like to keep acting, so have made a DAML in line with official guidance. You’ve provided as much information as possible and answered the NCA’s further questions during the seven-day decision window. You then wait patiently.
Sounds simple enough.
But your client is getting irritated by the delay, and frustratingly you have to limit what you tell them to avoid the tipping off offence.
You hope that the NCA will issue a DAML, so that you can continue to act for your client, safe in the knowledge that you have made the appropriate disclosures and have a statutory defence.
But what happens if the DAML is refused?
SRA Risk Outlook 2021-2022
This week the SRA Risk Outlook 2021-2022 was launched (‘What is the new normal? Challenges and opportunities for law firms after the lockdowns’), in time for the annual SRA Compliance Conference.
In this post we look at:
- What is the SRA Risk Outlook?
- What does it say?
- Who should read the report?
News and Guidance
Law Society Updates
- Q&A: Can I charge for due diligence checks? – the SRA’s position of this has changed over the past couple of years. AML compliance was always viewed as an overhead of the practice.
- Updated practice note: SRA powers of investigation
SRA Updates
- Consultation: Post six year run-off cover and the Solicitors Indemnity Fund – SRA wants to close SIF, leaving clients potentially without remedy six years after a firm closes.
- Report: Money Laundering Governance: Three Pillars of Success – SRA identifies authority, independence and resources as key to being an effective MLCO/MLRO.
- Consultation: Financial penalties – SRA having another go at increasing the amount it can fine solicitors without referring to the SDT, from £2,000 to £25,000
- Updated guidance: How we regulate non-authorised persons
Other updates
- AML: High risk jurisdiction update – Jordan, Mali and Turkey join the list that no country wants to be on.
- HM Treasury: Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing: Supervision Report 2019-20
Webinars
We were delighted to host Adam Richardson on 17th November to talk about Fraud and Cybercrime. An overview of the session is here.
Click here to view the recording – Access Passcode: @itA&w6Q (newsletter subscribers only).
Recording available for 30 days.
Disciplinary decisions
- Mia Faye Branchette – junior solicitor struck off for giving clients false case updates.
- Mustafa Bar – fined £6,000 for confidentiality breaches when removing client records from the firm.
- Rima Rampersaud – Section 43 Order (strike off) for paralegal who misled the other side’s conveyancer about the progression of a transaction.
- Clive Matthew Austin – suspended for nine months, after ‘dumping’ over five hundred hours of time onto a probate file.
- Liddy’s Solicitors Limited (a firm) – fined £2,000 for (relatively) minor Accounts Rules breaches.
- Julie Holdaway – struck off for lying to employer, after the ’embarrassment’ of being dismissed by a previous employer.
- Kamaljit Singh Bains – rebuked following a public order conviction involving an assault with a frying pan.
- Justin Emerson – rebuked for drafting an NDA which attempted to ‘gag’ disclosures to HMRC.
- Bakadde Kiwanuka – Section 43 Order (strike off) for paralegal who arranged for immigration fees to be paid into his personal bank account.
- Florence Lungu – Section 43 Order (strike off) for paralegal who inflated costs and billed for work not completed.
- Natalie Salunke – fined £1,100 following drink driving conviction
- John Davis – experienced solicitor fined £30,000 after allowing a convicted fraudster use his client account as a banking facility.
- Femida Jamali – struck off for misleading clients about the progression of personal injury cases, which had been struck out.