Compl-i - August 2009
Welcome to our Compl-i newsletter, a bi-monthly review of
regulatory and compliance issues affecting solicitors.
There have been a number of developments and
important changes in the past few months including changes to the
Land Registry’s procedures for early registration and increases to
the Practising Certificate fees. A number of other hot topics
are considered in this newsletter, as well as the future of
complaints handling in the profession and information on the effect
of the abolishment of the remuneration certificate which took
place last week.
As always this newsletter provides links to
recent practice notes released by the Law Society and open
consultations.
We hope you find this update of assistance. Please do not
hesitate to contact me at michelle.garlick@weightmans.com
if you have any issues you wish to discuss.
Dealing with Complaints – A New Era
In this article,
Michelle Garlick looks at the proposals for the operation of the
new Ombudsman scheme and warns solicitors that they should be
gearing up now by implementing an effective in-house complaints
handling procedure.
The End of Remuneration
Certificates
On 11 August, remuneration certificates were abolished.
Solicitors need to be aware of the
changes which are reviewed here.
Property Update
New Land Registry Procedures
On 3 August, the Land Registry’s new procedures
relating to early registration came into force. In this article, we give an overview of the changes
and provide a summary of the Law Society’s response to the new
scheme.
Hot Topics
In this section of the
newsletter we look at some important topics which have come under
the spot light in recent weeks including changes to the Practising
Certificate fees, a warning regarding the use of claims management
companies, and a reminder with regard to the fast approaching PII
Renewal date.
Open Consultations
An old favourite, this
section provides information and links to a number of open
consultations on subjects such as regulating AB's, an agenda for
quality and moving towards a fairer fee policy .
Practice Notes
We include in this section some
practice notes that have recently been published by the Law
Society, including the land registrys early completion policy and
making gifts of assets.
Published Articles
This newsletter contains two published articles from members of
the Weightmans Professional Risk team in Manchester. Catherine Burtinshaw, Associate looks at
the subject of the great
British weather, and Michelle Garlick, Partner considers the
potential effects of the SRA’s proposed amendments to Rules 3 and 4
of the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct.
This update does not attempt to provide a full analysis of those
matters with which it deals and is provided for general information
purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice and is
not treated as a substitute for legal advice. Weightmans LLP
accepts no responsibility for any loss that may arise from reliance
on the information in this update. The copyright in this
update is owned by Weightmans LLP.