News

15 . 11 . 2019 Legal professional privilege – Updated Law Society Practice Note (registration required)

See here.

13 . 11 . 2019 GCT Canada Limited Partnership v. Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, 2019 FC 1147

The Canadian court disqualified solicitors from acting. Although they had not acted for the applicant, they had been privy to its confidential information in the course of undertaking a due diligence for another client in connection with a potential acquisition ...

07 . 11 . 2019 UK Financial Intelligence Unit Suspicious Activity Reports Annual Report 2019

See here.

06 . 11 . 2019 Professional indemnity insurance and in-house solicitors – Law Society guidance

See here.

31 . 10 . 2019 SRA Guidance on Conflicts of Interest (effective from 25 November 2019)

However this does not address own interest conflict issues arising from the decision in SRA v Howell Jones LLP Case No. 11846-2018 which will be addressed in further guidance on Putting Things Right. See here.

30 . 10 . 2019 SRA Guidance on Investment Schemes

See here.

29 . 10 . 2019 e-Privacy Regulation – Revised draft published by the European Council

This includes clarification on consent, in line with GDPR and the Planet 49 judgment. See here.

29 . 10 . 2019 SRA Risk Outlook 2019/20

The SRA’s Risk Outlook 2019/20 has been published. This has a particular focus on anti-money laundering and the need for firmwide risk assessments, but also a variety of other topics, including non-disclosure agreements, investment schemes and cyber risk. See here.

29 . 10 . 2019 Higgins & Co Lawyers Ltd v Evans [2019] EWHC 2809 (QB)

Appeal allowed upholding ‘death clause’ in Law Society Conditional Funding Agreement where it had not been explained to the claimant. See here.

The SRA has reminded firms of the requirement to keep their firm risk assessment up to date. It has expressed concern that many firms have not taken account of the SRA’s sectoral risk assessment, fail properly to address the risks ...

28 . 10 . 2019 HM Treasury monetary penalty of £146,341 imposed on Telia Carrier UK Limited

HM Treasury monetary penalty of £146,341 imposed on Telia Carrier UK Limited for a breach of financial sanctions regulations, demonstrating that ‘economic resources’ may cover a wide variety of tangible and intangible resources and can be provided directly or indirectly. See ...

25 . 10 . 2019 At Your Service – report by Transparency International

See here.

23 . 10 . 2019 Curless v Shell International Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 1710 (22 October 2019)

Legal advice privilege - appeal allowed against application of the iniquity exception. See here.

See here.

18 . 10 . 2019 Brexit – Law Society leaflet

How to prepare for a no deal Brexit: 10 steps for law firms. See here.

18 . 10 . 2019 Withdrawing client money from client account to pay to a charity

SRA release a statement on the prescribed circumstances in which you can withdraw client money from client account to pay to a charity of your choice. See here.

11 . 10 . 2019 Law Society advice note on VAT treatment of disbursements and expenses

See here.

11 . 10 . 2019 Manifestly unfounded and excessive requests | ICO

ICO guidance on manifestly unfounded and excessive requests

10 . 10 . 2019 Data protection and no-deal Brexit – updated guidance from The Law Society

See here.

04 . 10 . 2019 SRA release statement of their position regarding firms operating a client’s own account

See here.

03 . 10 . 2019 Addlesee & Others v Dentons Europe LLP [2019] EWCA Civ 1600

Legal advice privilege attached to communications between a company and its lawyers, once that company had been dissolved and the Crown has disclaimed all interest in its former property. The solicitors were entitled to their costs of defending the application ...

See here.

17 . 09 . 2019 Data protection and no-deal Brexit for small businesses and organisations

The Information Commissioner’s Office has published guidance aimed at smaller firms. See here.

13 . 09 . 2019 Law Society Practice Note – Freelance solicitors

This applies to new forms of practice permitted from 25 November 2019. See here. (Law Society members only.)

See here.

12 . 09 . 2019 Law Society Practice Note: Solicitors offering legal services to the public from unregulated entities

This applies to new forms of practice permitted from 25 November 2019. See here. (Law Society members only.)

11 . 09 . 2019 Law Society issued/updated Advice notes

The Law Society issued/updated Advice notes in the following areas on 9 September 2019: Anti-money laundering in the property market, see here. Property fraud, see here. Legal professional privilege, see here.

03 . 09 . 2019 Civil Procedure Rules

Civil Procedure Rule changes to CPR 35 relating to privacy and data protection claims with effect from 1 October 2019, requiring more detailed pre-action protocol letters, and all claims for data protection and misuse of private information will be required to be ...

03 . 09 . 2019 Brexit: Updated Law Society guidance on data protection

See here.

Advice from the European Data Protection Board and European Data Protection Supervisor on compliance with GDPR when responding to requests by US law enforcement authorities under the US CLOUD Act. See here.

A Norwich Pharmacal order requiring disclosure of IP addresses would result in the Applicants becoming "recipients" of personal data but not "controllers", and therefore not subject to the more onerous obligations on "controllers". See here.

22 . 08 . 2019 The National Crime Agency (NCA) has published the second issue of its SARs in Action magazine

See here: https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/333-sars-in-action-magazine-august-2019/file

20 . 08 . 2019 Timescales for responding to a subject access request | ICO

Revised ICO Guidance on calculating time limits. See here.

13 . 08 . 2019 Bank of Queensland Limited v AIG Australia Limited [2019] NSWCA 190

Aggregation: A decision of the News South Wales Court of Appeal holding that multiple claims by investors in a Ponzi scheme aggregated as one claim. See here.

12 . 08 . 2019 HM Government guidance for EU lawyers in the UK on how to prepare for a no-deal Brexit

See here.

09 . 08 . 2019 The Solicitors (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules 2019

These rules, (in force from 25 November 2019) provide for the civil standard of roof in SDT proceedings and consolidate the current rules and Practice Directions. See here.

09 . 08 . 2019 SRA | Ethics guidance: Acting with integrity | Solicitors Regulation Authority

See here.

05 . 08 . 2019 Law Society Brexit update

This contains a summary of the current state of play in relation to member states where a significant number of solicitors are based. See here.

05 . 08 . 2019 Contractual terms and privacy policies: how to improve consumer understanding

This UK Government publication is a guide for business on how to help their customers better understand their contractual terms and privacy policies. See here.

05 . 08 . 2019 EU Recommendations for a better presentation of information to consumers

This guidance explains how businesses can clearly and effectively communicate mandatory information to consumers about pricing and standard contractual terms. See here.

02 . 08 . 2019 Plein v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company, 2019 WL 3407107

‘Playbook conflicts’ arise when a lawyer has knowledge of a client’s approach to strategy: is that alone confidential information on the same or a related matter, such as to prevent the lawyer acting against the client? This was a decision ...

02 . 08 . 2019 Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing: supervision report 2017-18

HM Treasury has published its annual supervision report. The report contains details of penalties imposed by supervisors. Note the comment that ‘[all] supervisors should continue to ensure, in accordance with the increased trend for levying penalties, that proportionate, dissuasive and ...

31 . 07 . 2019 SRA v Evans and Whiteley 11907-2018

Own interest conflict – judgment on an agreed outcome. The respondents acted for clients on the sale of property to a company in which they had a financial interest. They advised the clients to seek separate advice but failed to ...

30 . 07 . 2019 Information Commissioner’s Office blog: AI auditing framework

The blog discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) can require trade-offs between data protection principles, and what organisations can do to assess and balance them. See here.

29 . 07 . 2019 Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019: Statistical Release

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has published its annual statistical release on cyber breaches. This identifies a fall in the number of businesses identifying any breaches or attacks; the report identifies the types of breaches or ...

26 . 07 . 2019 European Commission Report on GDPR

See here.

26 . 07 . 2019 N v The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc [2019] EWHC 1770 (Comm)

A bank, suspecting money laundering, was entitled to close the accounts of its customer, a money service business (MSB), without notice. A secondary claim in negligence failed. ‘[The] interests and reputation of N and of the Bank are only part ...

25 . 07 . 2019 SRA’s first ‘Upholding Professional Standards’ report

This sets out the SRA’s investigation, supervision and legal enforcement work for the year to 31 October 2018. The report contains statistics on harassment (#metoo) claims, money laundering reports and cases in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and appeals. See here.

The Commission’s latest supranational report identifies professional football, free ports, investor citizenship and residence schemes (‘golden passports/visas’), FinTech, exchange platforms and wallet providers as new sectors posing risks. See here.

24 . 07 . 2019 Further Guidance on the SRA Standards and Regulations

The SRA has published further guidance on the new SRA Standards and Regulations, effective from 25 November 2019, covering client care letters, integrity, registered foreign lawyers (RFLs), not for profit sector, unregulated organisations – conflicts and confidentiality, information for clients, ...

16 . 07 . 2019 HM Government’s Economic Crime Plan 2019-2022

See here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/816215/2019-22_Economic_Crime_Plan.pdf

15 . 07 . 2019 Hotel Portfolio II UK Ltd v SMA Investment Holdings Ltd & Ors [2019] EWHC 1754 (Comm)

Legal professional privilege: On the facts, the court refused to apply the iniquity/crime=fraud exception. https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2019/1754.pdf

10 . 07 . 2019 Intention to fine Marriott International, Inc more than £99 million under GDPR for data breach | ICO

The ICO’s investigation found that Marriott failed to undertake sufficient due diligence when it bought Starwood and should also have done more to secure its systems. See here.

Confidentiality and information barriers: Applying Bolkiah v KMPG, the court declined to grant an order restraining a small two office firm from acting even though there was little detailed evidence on how the information barrier worked. See here.

08 . 07 . 2019 ICO statement: Intention to fine British Airways £183.39m under GDPR for data breach | ICO

See here.

05 . 07 . 2019 Guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies | ICO

ICO Guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies (Updated) See here.

05 . 07 . 2019 ICO Blog: Cookies – what does ‘good’ look like?

See here.

05 . 07 . 2019 Podcast: Brexit country by country update – The Law Society

See here.

05 . 07 . 2019 SRA Ethics guidance on the SRA Standards and Regulations

For reference only until the 25 November 2019, when the new SRA Standard and Regulations come into effect. See here.

28 . 06 . 2019 FATF Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach for Legal Professionals

This guidance follows the consultation in February 2019. See here.

25 . 06 . 2019 FBME Bank Ltd v Dangate Consulting Ltd [2018] EWHC 546 (Comm)

Defendants’ unsuccessful application for an order that the Second and Third Claimants’ solicitors cease acting due to an alleged conflict with the First Claimant. Unless the Court is given cogent evidence of a conflict, it should and does trust solicitors ...

24 . 06 . 2019 Saab & Anor v Angate Consulting Ltd & Ors [2019] EWHC 1558 (Comm)

Confidentiality, fraud and anti-money laundering disclosures, public interest and compulsion of law. See here.

19 . 06 . 2019 SRA Standards and Regulations

Beta version available (requires registration), see here.

18 . 06 . 2019 Anti-money laundering: the SARs regime – Law Commission report

See here.

17 . 06 . 2019 ICO Data Protection Audit Report on the Legal Ombudsman (June 2019)

The report contains some potentially useful pointers for law firms and others. See here.

13 . 06 . 2019 House of Commons Library Briefing Paper on Brexit questions in national and EU courts

See here.

12 . 06 . 2019 Advertising Standards Authority Ltd v Mitchell [2019] EWHC 1469 (QB)

Injunction restraining use of counsel’s advice and other documents sent in error to opposing party due to email autocomplete feature. See here.

12 . 06 . 2019 Green v Group Ltd & Others [2019] EWHC 954 (Ch)

Claim arising from the processing of data by Cambridge Analytica. Joint Administrators were not data controllers and were therefore not personally responsible for compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 in respect of the data processed by ...

10 . 06 . 2019 SRA v Adams and Rich 2018-11891

Conflict allegation dismissed where one partner acted for a man convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and another partner acted for the victim’s estate in a claim against the driver which was settled by the driver’s insurers. Reprimand for ...

07 . 06 . 2019 ICO Report – GDPR: One year on

See here.

29 . 05 . 2019 Bhatti v Asghar [2019] EWHC B5

Decision on the question of a solicitor’s own interest conflict where a costs budget has not been filed and costs are limited to the court fees and compares the factual matrix with the position in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers ...

24 . 05 . 2019 Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing [2019] EWHC 1258 (Ch)

High Court decision (following Court of Appeal decision) determining (1) whether paper files formed part of a relevant filing system, (2) application of legal professional privilege and waiver of privilege), (3) whether solicitors had carried out reasonable and proportionate searches ...

See here.

These will take effect when the new SRA Standards and Regulations come into force in November 2019, increasing the reporting obligations of firms and individuals in relation to possible compliance breaches. See here.

16 . 05 . 2019 Legal Ombudsman’s guidance on costs information

See here.

07 . 05 . 2019 SRA Warning Notice – Compliance with the money laundering regulations – firm risk assessment

SRA publish warning notice, see here.

07 . 05 . 2019 SRA thematic review of trust and company service providers

See here.

02 . 05 . 2019 Updated HMRC Estate agency guidance for money laundering supervision

The section on PEPs has been updated. See here.

Judgment on lawfulness of sharing of sensitive personal data relating to a 16 year old child, including bail conditions, under an information-sharing agreement between the police and a local business crime reduction partnership. The decision also determined that the parties ...

24 . 04 . 2019 Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019 published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

See here.

18 . 04 . 2019 Campbell v Secretary of State (Information rights – Data protection) [2018] UKUT 372 (AAC)

Appeal relating to data subject access rights did not survive death of the data subject. See here.

17 . 04 . 2019 Government consultation on the transposition of the fifth money laundering directive

See here.

17 . 04 . 2019 Brexit: updated SRA Guidance

See here.

This contains a review of the position on compulsory insurance for lawyers in the United States generally and elsewhere. https://www.wsba.org/docs/default-source/legal-community/committees/mandatory-malpractice-insurance-task-force/mandatory-malpractice-insurance-task-force-report.pdf?sfvrsn=558e03f1_0

12 . 04 . 2019 Murray v Turcan Connell [2019] CSOH 21

Scottish decision in matrimonial proceedings restraining solicitors from acting for husband after lateral hire of solicitor who had acted for the wife while at his previous firm. In applying Bolkiah v KPMG, and assessing whether there was a risk to ...

12 . 04 . 2019 Rudd v Bridle & Anor [2019] EWHC 893 (QB) (10 April 2019)

Consideration of various issues in relation to a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998, including an unsuccessful claim of legal professional privilege and what constitutes ‘personal data’. See here.

08 . 04 . 2019 The Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

These Regulations make provision in relation to Brexit. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/419/contents/made

These Regulations make amendments in relation to the application of the EU-US Privacy Shield to the UK post-Brexit. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/485/pdfs/uksi_20190485_en.pdf

05 . 04 . 2019 SRA Residential conveyancing thematic review

See here.

03 . 04 . 2019 EDPB Review of implementation of GDPR

See here.

27 . 03 . 2019 Advocate General’s opinion on cookie consent

See here.

20 . 03 . 2019 SRA confirms November launch for new regulatory model

The new regulations will come into effect on 25 November 2019. See here.

20 . 03 . 2019 SRA puts firms on notice for money laundering compliance checks

SRA have said they will be carrying out rigorous checks on law firms to make sure they are meeting their anti-money laundering obligations.See here.

19 . 03 . 2019 Opinion on the interplay between the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR

The European Data Protection Board have published Opinion 5/2019 on the interplay between the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR, in particular regarding the competence, tasks and powers of data protection authorities. See here.

11 . 03 . 2019 Anti-money laundering supervision and sanctions implementations

Treasury have published their Committee Inquiry report: Anti-money laundering supervision and sanctions implementations. See here.

08 . 03 . 2019 FATF draft guidance on risk based approach for legal professionals

See here.

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