UK’s review of remote working holidays sparks tax crackdown fears September 1, 2022 The UK’s Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) has opened a review into those who work abroad remotely, in a sign the government may soon begin to crack down on remote working holidays. The OTS has begun collecting data on people who work for UK companies from abroad, following a major uptick in the numbers of [...]
Art dealers and letting agents drive uptick in anti-money laundering registrations September 1, 2022 Art dealers, letting agents, and estate agents are driving an uptick in the number of UK businesses registering for anti-money laundering (AML) supervision with HMRC. The total number of businesses signing up to HMRC’s AML register increased 0.9 per cent from the financial year 2020-21 to 2021-22, analysis of public available data by AML verification [...]
Employment lawyer admits making unwanted sexual advances towards junior colleague August 31, 2022 A senior employment lawyer has agreed to stop practicing as a solicitor, after he admitted making unwanted sexual advances towards a junior colleague. Ronald Stephen Simms, a former partner at UK national law firm Capsticks, agreed to remove himself from the roll of solicitors, after admitting to placing his hand on a junior colleague’s thigh [...]
City law firms have youngest partners, new research shows August 31, 2022 The City’s high-paying corporate law firms have more young partners than those working in any other sector of the legal business, new research from legal sector accountancy firm Hazelwoods shows. Almost two fifths (38 per cent) of partners at City of London firms are now under the age of 44, as young lawyers are [...]
Travers Smith’s partners see payouts drop 10 per cent to £1.1m August 30, 2022 Partners at Silver Circle law firm Travers Smith have seen the value of their annual payouts drop by 10 per cent, according to the City law firm’s annual results. Travers Smith’s partners are set to receive payouts worth £1.105m for the financial year ending on 30 June 2022, compared to sums of £1.22m in the [...]
Fraud prosecutions slowed by record Crown Court wait times August 30, 2022 THE UK’s Crown Court backlog is stalling efforts to tackle the UK’s worsening fraud epidemic, according to new research from KPMG. The value of frauds worth more than £100,000 reaching the UK’s Crown Courts increased 288 per cent, from £137.4m in the first half of 2021 to £532.6m in H1 2022, as a series [...]
Chinese using state-backed hackers to attack energy projects in South China Sea August 30, 2022 China is using state-backed hackers to launch cyberattacks against energy projects in the South China Sea, according to new research from cybersecurity firm Proofpoint and consulting firm PwC. Hacking group Red Ladon, also known as TA423, is using a simple phishing scam to attack politically significant targets in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, including defense [...]
The Big Four’s legal ventures should worry mid-tier law firms August 26, 2022 THE BIG Four’s first forays into the legal sector in the 1990s ended in abject failure. Yet over the past decade, the world’s four biggest accounting firms have captured a significant share of the UK’s market for legal services, and have increasingly begun to compete with traditional firms. Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC have used [...]
Law firm sues Ghislaine Maxwell over unpaid legal fees August 25, 2022 A Colorado law firm is suing British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell over claims she failed to pay $878,302.66 (£742,000) in legal fees. Law firm Haddon, Morgan and Forman has filed a claim against Maxwell in a Denver district court, after acting on her behalf in the high-profile sex trial that saw her jailed for 20 years. [...]
Raab vows to break barristers’ ‘near-monopoly’ over Crown Court trials August 24, 2022 Justice secretary Dominic Raab is seeking to undermine the barristers’ strike by breaking their “near-monopoly” over crown court trials, government sources told the Daily Mail. As the UK government faces the prospect of an all-out barristers strike from the start of next month, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is weighing up plans to expand the [...]