We hope that you all have a wonderful long bank holiday weekend, whatever you are doing.
For those of you who are joining in the celebrations you can find all sorts of information about what events are happening and the history of jubilees at the HM Government’s web site or the Royal Family’s dedicated web site.
Run, Bike, Hike or Walk in the footsteps of one of Caritas Aspire’s refugee students to support their educational aspirations.
Between 6th June and 8th July 2022, we are asking you to encourage all family and friends to sponsor you to walk, run, cycle (or any active travel you choose) part of the distance of one of the four journeys taken by Caritas Aspire students. They travelled, often by foot, from their war-torn countries to the U.K. in search of a safe home and future for their family.
Wazia – Evacuation to Kabul Aiport – 20 miles/32 km
Eisa – Calais to Dover – 40 miles/64 km
Daniella – Ukraine to Poland – 80 miles/130 km
Karim – Across the Mediterranean – 400 miles/640 km
Don’t worry if you are too busy to commit to a large distance. Last year distances travelled ranged from the hundreds of miles to just a few. Every little helps, as they say!
If you would like to help but are too busy to participate yourself, then you can always help out by spreading the word or perhaps making a donation yourself.
As promised, please find the first edition of the MLS Court Reports Journal here!
This new journal is launched in partnership with our friends at Legal RSS and will provide a summary of recent court reports which we hope will be an invaluable addition to your own understanding and awareness of recent court judgements.
We would love to hear your feedback so let us know what you think!
launched a public consultation on 6 May 2022 on its 2022-23 Business Plan and budget, making it clear that anti-money laundering work remains a high priority, with commitments to expand the numbers of firm inspections and desk-based review activity. Those firms that have yet to carry out a Regulation 21 independent audit should look to do so quickly. Compli offers a specialist independent anti-money laundering audit service and general AML support. If you feel your firm may require our help, get in touch to discuss how we might be able to work with you.
sent out an email on 20 May to COLPs headed ‘Get ready to tell us about your work within scope of the money laundering regulation’. Questions will include:
how much work falls under AML scope
cash acceptance limit
number of SARs submitted
large deposits into client account
The deadline is 31 July 2022 and the COLP will be contacted in June to let them know how to submit the information. A response is mandatory and the SRA confirmed action could be taken against firms that fail to send the information by the deadline.
launched a consultation on 11 May on whether it should publish details of solicitors being investigated and how long it should keep details of those guilty of misconduct online, and on 23 May, confirmed that, despite many objections to the proposals, fining powers would be increased from £2,000 to £25,000 for non-ABSs. Just a couple of days later, the Supreme Court confirmed the SRA should continue to receive costs protection when it brings prosecutions.
With all this activity by the regulator, now would be a good time to check compliance within your firm. Get in touch to discuss our compliance health check and ethics barometer.