John Flood's Random Academic Thoughts (RATs)

(thanks to DYFL) The cab rank rule seems like a long-drawn out car crash at times. The Law Society Gazette reported today that the Legal Services Board is to investigate whether the Bar Council interfered in the Bar Standards Board’s application to vary the cab rank rule. The LSB’s letter to the Bar Council is [...]

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(thanks to toonpool.com) Following on from my previous post on general counsel and compliance officers, it’s worth reading Michelle Garlick’s post on what can happen to compliance officers when things go horribly wrong…as they will. In the case she describes a brokerage firm, ActivTrades plc, failed to put into place proper client money protection procedures. [...]

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  Risk management in law firms will soon be a tortuous task. At the 2nd Annual Law Firm General Counsel & Risk Management Forum today a group of law firm general counsel discussed their roles and how they thought they might change when the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) new handbook rules come into play. The [...]

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(thanks to ceect.com) Today the Law Society has agreed to allow the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) to become a licensing authority for Alternative Business Structures (ABS). The reason for my post title is that we weren’t sure if the Law Society would actually do this. The Law Society has kept everyone on tenterhooks. Whether it [...]

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Top-hatted city gents in discussion outside the Westminster Bank in the City of London, 1931 (FoxPhotos/Getty Images) The Smedley Report last year recommended to the Solicitors Regulation Authority that it needed a specialist division to regulate large corporate law firms. The SRA gave every appearance of agreeing. Then the Hunt Review stepped in and endorsed [...]

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