FRC begins hunt for new chair after its governance dubbed a ‘grave risk’ August 6, 2021 The government has launched its recruitment drive for a new chair and non-executive directors for the Financial Reporting Council, after its governance was criticised. Although the watchdog has started the search for a permanent chair and six new non-executive directors, it will still be without a chair when Skeoch steps down in October. Just two [...]
Law firms brace as chancellor mulls over new tax on legal sector August 5, 2021 Rishi Sunak may be considering imposing a tax levy on the revenues of large commercial law firms, to help to prop up the ailing legal aid system, according to reports. The chancellor may be contemplating reviving the idea of a bespoke levy on commercial legal practices, an idea first suggested five years ago by then [...]
KPMG fined £13m over Silentnight sale misconduct August 5, 2021 The accounting firm has been fined and ordered to pay over £2.75m in costs, for serious misconduct in its role in the 2011 sale of bed retailer Silentnight to a private equity group. An independent tribunal found that KPMG and one of its partners did not comply with the UK professional accounting principles of objectivity [...]
Racial injustice more of a professional barrier than caregiving, says two thirds of lawyers August 5, 2021 Racial injustice is the biggest professional barrier for over two thirds of lawyers of colour, a report, published today, finds. In the study by Thomson Reuters, 68 per cent of black lawyers said racially related injustice was a key barrier to climbing up the legal ladder – the study found it was considered to be [...]
Fertility benefits – for lawyers or for law firms? August 4, 2021 More law firms in the City are offering paid leave or paying towards the costs of fertility treatments for their employees in a bid to stay up to date, and keep their lawyers. Last week law firm Ashurst announced what it called “landmark” changes to its global parental leave policy. Alongside offering a reduction in [...]
Judge dismisses lawyer’s harassment claim warning against ‘a culture of hyper-sensitivity’ August 3, 2021 A lawyer, who claimed she was unfairly dismissed from her £100,000-a-year job after being sexually harassed, has lost her case after a judge warned against “encouraging a culture of hyper-sensitivity”. Nirosha Sithirapathy, who worked as legal counsel at pharmaceutical research company PSI CRO UK, claimed that she was discriminated against because of her age and [...]
EY to pay $10m to settle SEC misconduct charges August 3, 2021 Ernst & Young and three audit partners settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over claims of misconduct in their relationship with the chief accounting officer of a US company, it is widely reported. The big four firm agreed to a $10m (£7.2m) settlement to close the case on charges of audit independence [...]
London Stock Exchange traders hit by third Refinitiv outage today August 2, 2021 London Stock Exchange’s Refinitiv news and data platform Eikon experienced an outage of several hours today, the company said, its third such glitch this year. The company reported similar issues in April and June. An LSEG customer support representative said the issue which started mid-afternoon had mostly affected users in Asia and the Europe, Middle [...]
Civil fraud cases jump by 50 per cent and could rise as UK feels full covid economic impact August 2, 2021 The number of civil fraud cases heard in the courts has increased by 50 per cent in a year marred by the pandemic according to new analysis published today by international law firm RPC. Cases in the courts of England and Wales went up from 61 in 2019 to 94 in 2020. RPC blamed the [...]
Goodwin ups newly qualified lawyers pay to £147k in a second rise this year July 30, 2021 US law firm Goodwin Procter has bumped up the salaries of its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers in London for the second time this year, City A.M. understands. Junior lawyers at the firm have been given a pay increase of 7 per cent bringing their annual salary to £147,000 less than six months after Goodwin gave [...]