Opinion
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OpinionRhino hide required
Who’d want to regulate lawyers, the most cussed and querulous constituency in British business life?
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OpinionSeven priorities for the new SRA chief executive
Axiom Ince, SSB, AML and ending the frosty relationship with solicitors.
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OpinionParting shot
A degree of friction between regulators is perhaps healthy, but instances of outright hostility appear to be multiplying.
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OpinionWeighing up a lawyer's public shame against open justice
As the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal closes itself off from scrutiny, anonymity applications may increase.
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OpinionSchooled by scandal
Shabana Mahmood demands changes to address SRA failures and prevent scandal akin to Axiom Ince from recurring. But how interventionist is the regulator now mandated to be?
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OpinionA smorgasbord of navigable wisdom
Fiona du Feu reviews 'Risk and Compliance Questions and Answers (2nd edition)'.
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OpinionOld chestnut back in season
Is momentum building again for a root-and-branch reform of legal services regulation?
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OpinionLight relief?
What would a ‘light-touch’ approach to litigation funding regulation look like?
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OpinionWhy it’s time to scrap the Legal Services Board
Sweeping away the LSB given its lack of both impact and credibility would be in the public interest. The board is a burden but offers no benefit.
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OpinionGlass houses
Last week I noted that the Law Society’s benchmarking survey was awkwardly timed, finding as it did that client interest is turbocharging practice profits.
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OpinionLetters roundup
Branded a liar by the SRA, an AML juggernaut creating mayhem and asking the question: 'are lawyers needed?' Your letters to the editor.
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OpinionNo more ‘free money’?
Might the prospect of tipping dozens of law firms into financial trouble deter the SRA from imposing a ban on pocketing interest on client money?
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OpinionCompulsory ethics training may help to fix the problem
The ethical crisis in the legal profession may be overstated - but that doesn’t mean we can ignore it.
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OpinionEssential Q&A guidance for all compliance officers
Paul Bennett reviews 'Conflicts, Confidentiality and Disclosure: Requirements, Risks and Remedies' by Tracey Calver.
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OpinionBattle royal for our crown jewels
The UK is in an unfortunate position: large AI models, whose training the government is seeking to regulate, are predominantly US-developed and owned.
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OpinionPaul Philip transformed the SRA, but will he leave it weaker?
The long-serving chief executive oversaw mission creep and radical change, but Axiom and SSB have done for him.
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OpinionDeregulation is on its way
Widespread introduction of compliance rules is now seen as too burdensome or, in the case of the US, too woke. The pendulum is swinging the other way, for good or ill.
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OpinionGeek's guide to compliance is essential reading
Paul Bennet reviews 'SRA Investigations (1st edition)'.
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OpinionIt’s time the SRA’s leaders were held to account
Those leading the regulator and its oversight board should consider whether they are best placed to restore and maintain the confidence of the public and those whom they regulate.