The judgement in the Mazur case focused on who may conduct litigation – a reserved activity. Many litigation departments use paralegals to do a lot of the work. The judgment caused some concern. Here is the link to the SRA’s guidance in the light of this judgment in case you missed it: SRA | Mazur […]
The MOJ has just published a consultation paper on this proposal. Deadline for submitting responses is 9th February 2026. They are clearly look at where they can raise money to improve the Justice System. There can be little disagreement that it needs to be improved. Currently interest earned on Client Account (not Separate Designated Accounts) […]
The NCA has just issued (November 2025) updated guidance relating to SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports) and DAMLs (Defence Against Money Laundering) & DATFs (defence against terrorist financing) to help reporters seeking a defence under POCA or TACT. Here is a link to the relevant page on the website for the UK Finance Intelligence unit - […]
From the beginning of this month, October 2025, those holding & wishing to hold a Criminal Legal Aid contract MUST: a) register with the ICO as a Data Controllerb) Appoint a Data Protection Supervisor or Data Protection Officerc) Have in place compliant policies (see listed below)d) Train all staff on Data Protection obligations and information […]
It has long been our wish to provide short, to-the-point training courses that people may access at their convenience to upskill on the areas of compliance that we cover. We are at last able to do so. We have started with Data Protection. AML to follow. The course title has a link that takes you […]
On 21st October 2025 the government announced that the supervision of compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) requirements for the professions would be consolidated under one body - the FCA. Currently the supervisory system is made up of three public sector supervisors - the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Gambling Commission and His […]
The decision of the High Court in late September in Mazur & Anor v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB) has thrown into question who may conduct litigation. Can a paralegal, litigation executive, trainee, or CILEX Fellow without independent practice rights — conduct litigation under the supervision of a solicitor? Many litigation departments are […]
Aspiring solicitors looking to qualify through the SQE route are required to have a minimum of 2 years' full time equivalent Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) confirmed to the SRA by an SRA regulated solicitor (or a COLP). But - what does 'full time' mean? Hitherto we had always understood that the SRA did not want […]
When will you be exempted from the QWE requirement, which forms part of the steps to be completed to qualify as a solicitor of England & Wales through the SQE route? Until recently we thought this was pretty clear: all qualified lawyers were automatically exempt. However, recently we have learned that the approach of the […]
The Ministry of Law has published a "Guide for Using Generative Artificial Intelligence in Legal Sector" for consultation (closing 30 September 2025). The write that the purpose is "to set out general principles and good practices to encourage responsible, ethical and effective use of generative artificial intelligence (“GenAI”) in Singapore’s legal services sector. The aim is […]
