Effective supervision has always been important from a risk management perspective but never more so than now, with many staff working remotely, some for the first time and having to grapple with new technology and processes.As it is a requirement of the SRA Code of Conduct for firms to have…
With the SRA expecting solicitors and firms to continue to meet the high standards the public expect (which includes upholding the rule of law), it is important to ensure that all staff are aware of their obligations when onboarding clients and, with most staff currently working remotely, now is a…
One of our most popular questions since the outbreak of the coronavirus has been “what can we do if we can’t get certified client identification documents?”. This is a bit of a tricky one to explain so, firstly, let’s go back to basics and remember what it is we are…
As most of you will (or should) be aware, the SRA Transparency Rules (the Rules) came into force back in December 2018 requiring firms to publish price and service information if they publish that they work in the following areas:Residential conveyancing;Probate (uncontested);Motoring offences (summary offences);Immigration (excluding asylum);Employment tribunals (unfair/wrongful dismissal);Debt…
1. Measures introduced to combat the virus and Privacy ImplicationsWhen you are introducing measures for staff, clients and other third parties, you need to take care that you do not breach data protection laws when doing so. For example, if you are informed that a member of staff or his…
Some of the certifications I have seen on client identification documents, that Fee Earners have uploaded as part of their client due diligence checks, have led me to raise an eyebrow. One of my favourites was a document certified by someone whose occupation was detailed as “Retired”!Having worked in Risk…
As the number of Coronavirus cases in the UK continues to grow each day, whilst we hope its growth can be contained, we all need to be considering the possible impact of the virus on our businesses and planning for all eventualities. Many businesses may already have considered the impact…
Do you need one?At Teal, one of the questions we often get asked is whether or not an organisation needs a Data Protection Officer (DPO). Under the GDPR, it’s mandatory for some organisations to appoint a person to act as their DPO – others may choose to either appoint a…
The much-anticipated SRA Standards and Regulations 2019 have been live since 26th November 2019 and I am sure many law firms are still racing around updating policies and training staff on what this means for them.The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (“The SRA”) have driven this change to the Regulations with a…
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has recently launched a campaign to send reminders to all UK registered companies to ensure that they comply with their legal obligation to pay an annual data protection fee, where this applies. This is the start of an extensive project by the ICO to…
