Insolvencies surge to highest rates since financial crash as voluntary bankruptcies hit record levels August 2, 2022 The UK government’s Insolvency Service today said it recorded a higher number of insolvencies over the past three months than at any other point in more than a decade, after the numbers of companies declaring voluntary bankruptcies hit their highest levels since records began. The past three months saw a total of 5,629 English and [...]
UK launches register of overseas property owners in clampdown on ‘corrupt elites’ August 1, 2022 Individuals that own UK properties via chains of “secretive” shell companies will from today be forced to reveal their true identities, after the UK government launched a new register of UK property owners today. The first-of-its-kind register will require those seeking to buy or own UK property via offshore entities to list the identities of [...]
Number of law firms fined by SRA increases following anti-money laundering compliance crackdown August 1, 2022 The number of fines against law firms, handed out by the UK’s solicitors’ watchdog, has increased six-fold over the past five years following an anti-money laundering compliance crackdown, according to data obtained by City A.M. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which regulates more than 11,000 law firms in England and Wales, gave out just six [...]
‘The Great Resignation could be followed by a Great Redundancy,’ DWF chief says July 29, 2022 A downturn in the legal market could see widespread layoffs in the City’s top-ranking law firms, the head of London listed law firm DWF told City A.M. The lawyers that jumped ship in “big numbers” in pursuit of six-figure salaries in London’s most prestigious firms could soon be laid off, as the top firms make [...]
Money launderer jailed for nine years over scheme to smuggle £104m to Dubai July 28, 2022 The head of a money laundering operation, that saw millions smuggled out of Heathrow airport in suitcases and sent to Dubai, has been jailed for nine years. Emirati national Abdullah Mohammed Ali Bin Beyat Alfalasi, 47, ran a scheme that saw cash believed to be profits from drug dealing, collected from criminal groups across Britain [...]
Legal history: First-ever televised sentencing at Old Bailey hailed a ‘landmark moment’ as Ben Oliver gets life July 28, 2022 Judge Sarah Munro QC made legal history today as she sentenced 25-year-old Ben Oliver to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 10 years and eight months. It was the first televised sentencing to take place at the Old Bailey ever. The footage was being broadcast on news channels and being made available online through [...]
Court security guards call off strike after OCS offers pay deal July 28, 2022 Court security guards have called off plans to strike after outsourcing firm OCS offered to up their pay by up to 8.3 per cent and hand over a raft of other benefits. Workers employed by Crawley contractor OCS on the Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Services (HMCTS) contract have suspended plans to strike while they [...]
Trade unions challenge government’s strike breaking law July 27, 2022 A COALITION of trade unions have launched a legal challenge against the government, over claims its new law, allowing companies to bring in agency workers as strikebreakers, breaches the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and violates the UK’s Brexit trade deal. The challenge comes after the government last week overturned laws forbidding companies from hiring angency [...]
Litigation funder Therium poaches lawyers from top firms as it seeks to build up record lawsuit war chest July 27, 2022 Litigation funder Therium Capital today said it had recruited four new lawyers from some of London and New York’s top firms, as it prepares to raise its largest war chest yet. The firm has brought on board two new London lawyers – ex-Slaughter and May associate Chris Wilkins and ex-Michelmores associate Charlie Temperley – [...]
News channels to be given new freedoms to broadcast sentencing hearings July 27, 2022 Broadcasters will be given new freedoms to film and broadcast Crown Court judges’ sentencing remarks, after a new law comes into force tomorrow morning. The UK’s biggest broadcasters will be given the right to broadcast statements made by Crown Court judges during sentencing hearings, both online and on TV. Under the new rules, TV news [...]