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24 November 2020
Issue: 7912 / Categories: Legal News , Regulatory , Profession
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Annual risk outlook: trouble ahead?

Law firms must be more vigilant than ever during COVID-19, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned

Law firms must be more vigilant than ever during COVID-19, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned.

The SRA’s annual Risk Outlook (bit.ly/3m5mJJX), published this week, highlights a rise in money laundering and cybercrime attacks during the first half of 2020, and predicts these threats will increase next year. In the first two months of lockdown, there was a 300% increase in phishing scams, and the SRA predicts similar spikes in future as COVID vaccines become available.

Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive, said the pandemic had ‘exacerbated many of the wider, day-to-day risks faced by law firms and their clients’.

Issue: 7912 / Categories: Legal News , Regulatory , Profession
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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