The future of justice depends on fixing the forensic science crisis May 13, 2019 Forensic science is a compelling piece of the puzzle in most crime dramas. We are fascinated by it, and rightly so – what science enables us to detect has transformed how we reconstruct criminal events, whether using digital information like phone data and automated recognition technologies, or detecting DNA traces that often go unnoticed. And [...]
Watchdog hits accountancy firm with £825,000 fine over failings in Laura Ashley audit May 9, 2019 Accountancy watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined Moore Stephens successor firm MSR Partners for failings in its audit of Laura Ashley. MSR Partners is a successor business of Moore Stephens – which merged with BDO in February. Read more: KPMG stung with £5m fine for Co-op Bank audit failures The FRC fined MSR [...]
MPs push for law change to give shareholders and business owners more power to sue May 8, 2019 Shareholders and small business owners could be able to take direct legal action against parties they blame for causing them losses when their companies fall into insolvency, after a group of MPs called for radical changes to the law. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on fair business banking took to the Supreme Court yesterday in a [...]
Keystone Law beats market expectations in first full-year results since listing May 8, 2019 Keystone Law today posted a 35 per cent increase in revenue in its first full-year results since it became the third English law firm to float in November 2017. The firm beat market expectations with revenue of £42.7m and adjusted profit before tax of £5.1m. Keystone, which launched in 2002, operates a platform model, recruiting [...]
Out for justice: Britain must fight for its status as a global legal hub May 8, 2019 The UK legal sector is in rude health. There are almost 10,000 private practice firms across the country, and over 200 foreign law firms with offices in London. Together, they support a total of 342,000 jobs and make a sizeable contribution to the UK’s trade surplus of around £4.4bn. But as we kick off London [...]
KPMG stung with £5m fine for Co-op Bank audit failures as breakup talks roll on May 8, 2019 KPMG has been hit with a £5m fine for misconduct relating to an audit of Co-op Bank. Audit partner Andrew Walker was also fined £125,000, with both “severely reprimanded” by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Read more: Watchdog slaps KPMG with £6m fine over insurance audit The Big Four audit giant and Walker admitted their [...]
London’s commercial courts hear record number of cases despite competition from overseas rivals May 7, 2019 London’s commercial courts heard a record 258 cases in 2018-19, up 63 per cent on the previous year. There was also a 54 per cent increase in the number of litigants using the courts in the year to March, with litigants coming from 78 countries, a report published today by Portland Communications shows. Read more: [...]
Maurice Turnor Gardner’s senior partner on a decade in the City, John McDonnell and being Allen & Overy’s first female partner May 6, 2019 Lawyer to the super rich Clare Maurice has a disarmingly simple view of the world. “Life doesn’t change really, people are born, get married, make money and die,” she says. The senior partner of private wealth boutique Maurice Turnor Gardner is reflecting on the ten years since she led a breakaway from Allen & Overy [...]
HMRC forced to delete 5m voice recordings after breaching privacy rules May 3, 2019 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been forced into deleting the voice records of five million taxpayers after it was revealed that they were collected without proper consent and in breach of privacy rules. The government body had signed people up to its voice ID system for telephone enquiries in a bid to speed up [...]
DEBATE: Should the UK’s judicial system embrace using artificial intelligence in the courtroom? April 30, 2019 Should the UK’s judicial system embrace using artificial intelligence in the courtroom? Emily Foges, chief executive of Luminance, says YES. The explosion of digital information, from social media posts to WhatsApp messages, can lead to cases collapsing in our courts as police and barristers struggle to review evidence in time. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is [...]