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Q&As

Featured Practice Compliance content

Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) practice management standards—Precedents content map from 1 May 2019

The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is a quality standard for residential conveyancing practices. According to the Law Society,

Brexit legislation tracker

This Practice Note tracks the progress of UK legislation introduced as part of the legislative project associated with the UK’s withdrawal from the

Introduction to the EU GDPR and UK GDPR

Brexit: The Retained General Data Protection Regulation, Retained Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (UK GDPR) regime described in this Practice Note is the UK

Price and service transparency—law firms

From 6 December 2018, law firms must publish information on their website on the prices they charge and what these cover. This does not apply to all

Practice notes

Money Laundering Regulations 2017—client due diligence—law firms

This Practice Note provides guidance on client due diligence (CDD) which is a central pillar of the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist...

12th Oct

Practice notes

High-risk third countries tracker

This Practice Note lists high-risk third countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), HM Treasury and the European Commission as...

9th Oct

In-house

Practice notes

AML and counter-terrorist financing—source of funds

Source of funds and wealth was a key focus of the SRA’s Preventing Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism thematic review, published in March...

9th Oct

In-house

Practice notes

SRA regulatory regime—from 2019

The way the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) regulates the solicitors’ profession has been evolving since its inception—from a prescriptive...

8th Oct

Precedents

Modern slavery: contract clauses

1DefinitionsModern Slavery Policy•means the Customer's anti-slavery and human trafficking policy as set out in Schedule [insert] as updated by the...

30th Sep

In-house

Practice notes

Compliance officer for legal practice—COLP—title and duties 2011 [Archived]

The compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) sits at the heart of the firm's regulatory arrangements. This does not mean that the firm and its...

27th Sep

Practice notes

Closing a client matter

Closing a client matter properly is a basic client care, risk management and housekeeping requirement. There are also regulatory and best practice...

26th Sep

Practice notes

Final client bill

This Practice Note deals with regulatory requirements and practical issues regarding the form and content of a final bill of costs to a client. It...

26th Sep

Practice notes

Breach reporting 2019—law firms

This Practice Note is based on reporting requirements in the SRA Codes of Conduct 2019 (in force from 25 November 2019) as amended by the SRA...

26th Sep

Precedents

Anti-bribery and corruption for law firms—post-training assessment questions

How to use this testThese questions are designed to test your understanding after your attendance at our training on avoiding bribery and...

26th Sep

Practice notes

What is a solicitor's undertaking?

An undertaking is a commitment by a solicitor to do something. It can be enforced against the solicitor by the courts. Failure to comply with an...

26th Sep

Practice notes

Undertakings and the court

This Practice Note explains:•what powers the court has to enforce undertakings•when it is likely to exercise those powersBreach of an undertaking is...

25th Sep

Practice notes

SRA Code of Conduct for individuals and firms

This Practice Note provides guidance on the SRA Codes of Conduct, contained in the SRA Standards and Regulations, in force from 25 November 2019. The...

25th Sep

Practice notes

SRA reforms 2019—new and updated content

This Practice Note lists all new and updated content to reflect the SRA Standards and Regulations, in force from 25 November 2019.The Standards and...

25th Sep

Practice notes

SRA Accounts Rules 2019

This Practice Note sets out the requirements of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019 (the 2019 Rules), in force from 25 November 2019, together with supporting...

25th Sep

Practice notes

Handling data subject requests

Brexit: As of exit day (31 January 2020), the UK is no longer an EU Member State, but it has entered an implementation period during which it...

2nd Sep

In-house

Most recent Q&As content

Q&As

Commercially, for non-public sector—can we still bid for EU contracts in light of Brexit?

Current legal positionAt present, the result of the UK referendum on 23 June 2016 has had no effect on UK law or on the legal relationship between the...

Produced in partnership with Jorren Knibbe of Guildhall Chambers 28th Sep

Brexit

Q&As

Do the money laundering offences under Part 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) apply to only UK nationals and companies or are foreign nationals and businesses also caught by these provisions? Do the money laundering offences under POCA 2002 have extra-territorial effect?

Territorial jurisdictionThe jurisdiction of the criminal law is a matter which is often found to present difficult questions for the courts in...

Produced in partnership with Philip Rule 28th Sep

Q&As

What are the consequences for pension scheme trustees if pensions are paid to members on the ‘Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets’ issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation? What obligations do pensions trustees have to carry out due diligence to safeguard against pensions being paid to such individuals?

UK sanctions regimeFinancial sanctions in the UK may be imposed by the UN Security Council, through UN Security Council Resolutions. These are...

28th Sep

Q&As

If a company self-reports a corrupt transaction but withholds details of other incidences of bribery, will the SFO give them the benefit of having self reported?

Commercial organisations which have identified involvement in corruption, whether directly or by an associated person, should seek expert advice...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can I enter into a retrospective CFA?

The simple answer is yes.Whether you can enter into a retrospective conditional fee agreement (CFA) is not a matter of statute but one of common law...

28th Sep

Q&As

Legal expenses insurance policy—can a party choose their own lawyer?

Legal expenses policies are governed by The Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations 1990. These regulations address the freedom to...

28th Sep

Q&As

Circumstances have changed since I entered into a CFA—do I need to do anything?

Whether you need to do anything will depend on the date you entered into the conditional fee agreement (CFA).CFAs entered into from 1 April 2013...

28th Sep

Q&As

Aside from the rules relating to service of proceedings, is there any guidance or rule concerning the manner in which solicitors involved in litigation should correspond? In particular, can a firm of solicitors refuse to accept general correspondence by email and insist on all correspondence being provided by post?

In short, we are not aware of any rule preventing a firm of solicitors insisting that all correspondence be provided by post. However, whether it...

Produced in partnership with Peter Steel of Augury Consulting 28th Sep

Q&As

If a solicitor agrees to charge a fixed fee for a piece of work but then does not carry out all the work which was envisaged in the original engagement letter, is he/she still entitled to charge the full fixed fee or is he only entitled to charge for the work actually carried out?

Where a solicitor and client have a fixed fee engagement but not all work set out in the engagement is completed, the solicitor’s right to charge fees...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can I change the success fee in a pre-1 April 2013 CFA?

The general position is that CFAs entered into prior to 1 April 2013 are covered by transitional arrangements, as set out in CPR 48.1. These provide...

28th Sep

Q&As

Is a restrictive covenant in a solicitor's employment contract incompatible with the client's freedom to choose a solicitor?

What does the SRA say?The first question to consider whether solicitors or law firms are under any obligation is to ensure clients have freedom of...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can a solicitor bring a claim for unpaid fees where the client has made verbal and written promises to pay over a period of time but has subsequently gone bankrupt? If so, what types of claim are available? Note: a member of the client’s family also made a verbal promise to pay.

Options available for a solicitor to recover feesA solicitor can bring proceedings for recovery of fees, subject to section 69 of the Solicitors Act...

28th Sep

Q&As

What are the key points private and voluntary sector employers need to know about mandatory gender pay gap reporting?

The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/172 ('the regulations') come into force on 6 April 2017. Acas and the...

28th Sep

Q&As

What damages are recoverable for stress and inconvenience resulting from a breach of personal data and what test will be applied when assessing these?

A breach of personal data can arise in two ways: (1) a breach of a free standing right of privacy (which used to be known as misuse of confidential...

Produced in partnership with Ashley Roughton of Ipchambers.eu 28th Sep

Q&As

Can we rely on the new Privacy Shield?

What is Privacy shield?On 29 February 2016, the European Commission announced draft details of the EU–US Privacy Shield to replace the Safe Harbour...

28th Sep

Q&As

If a business keeps a ‘black book’ of contacts, but keeps it private and does not keep an electronic version, does the Data Protection Act apply to its contents? Can the business send emails to those contacts without the opt out of receiving more emails that usually accompanies marketing shots?

Luxury goods retail and 'black books' It is a common practice for luxury goods retailers to hold records of specific information about particular...

28th Sep

Q&As

Can I still practice EU law if the UK is no longer in the EU?

Only lawyers qualified in an EU Member State are able to practise EU law or argue before EU tribunals such as the Court of Justice of the European...

28th Sep

Q&As

Is it compulsory to password-protect all emails—law firms?

Practice Notes: Information management and security—regulatory requirements—law firms and Information security—data protection compliance set out your...

28th Sep

Q&As