Legal Services

Introduction

1. This Circular sets out the position that Her Majesty’s Government takes regarding the use of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in private civil litigation matters. It should be read in conjunction with Home Office Circular 022/2015. The purpose of this Circular is to provide guidance to help protect reporters of SARs (including but not limited to financial institutions and professional services firms), the subjects of SARs and the integrity of the SARs regime wherever possible. Reporters should consider how they can apply points set out in the circular to contribute towards maintaining the wider effectiveness of the SARs regime. For the avoidance of doubt, this circular does not affect any legal obligations of disclosure including under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 or under an order of the court.

A partner who defrauded his firm of £2.3m over seven years through more than 200 improper withdrawals from client account – some of which was done with the help of a client – has been jailed for four years.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-jailed-for-defrauding-firm-of-2-3m-over-seven-years

A solicitor who falsified returns to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) so as to underpay stamp duty land tax and pocket the difference has been jailed for more than three years.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-jailed-for-stamp-duty-land-tax-fraud

Two directors of an alternative business structure (ABS) have been fined for not supervising a branch office where a fellow partner and a bogus solicitor carried out a £3.3m property fraud.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitors-fined-for-failing-to-prevent-3-3m-property-fraud

Plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to add a new cyber-losses clause to professional indemnity insurance (PII) policies could force some law firms to close, the Law Society has warned.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/sra-cyber-losses-clause-could-force-firms-to-close

A High Court judge has struck out a £58m unlawful means conspiracy claim against a law firm, four solicitors and a QC, which she described as “structurally fatally flawed, abusive and lacking in pleadable substance”.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/abusive-claim-against-lawyers-in-jarndyce-style-litigation-struck-out

A change in mindset about the way we approach dispute resolution methods will be one of the legacies of the Covid-19 pandemic, with remote mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) expected to be here to stay.

https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/analysis/remote-mediation-post-pandemic

A solicitor who turned “a wilful blind eye to the obvious suspicious circumstances” of dozens of virtually identical personal injury claims has been handed a £35,000 fine.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-turned-wilful-blind-eye-to-highly-suspicious-pi-claims

A solicitor found by a High Court judge to have deliberately misled the court has now been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-who-deliberately-misled-high-court-struck-off

What a High Court judge said yesterday were among “the most serious allegations ever levelled against English solicitors in civil proceedings” will be heard in January 2023, he has decided.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/trial-set-for-most-serious-allegations-made-against-solicitors-in-civil-courts