JANUARY 2024 – ARTICLES & ITEMS OF INTEREST

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JANUARY 2024 – ARTICLES & ITEMS OF INTEREST

The Legal Quality Standard of Ireland

JANUARY 2024 – ARTICLES & ITEMS OF INTEREST

2024 NEW CPD CATEGORIES

Last month we advised of the new CPD Scheme and the requirement to complete 25 hours of CPD during 2024.

Below sets out the three categories of CPD under the new scheme.

  • GENERAL CPD
    • Defined in the Regulations as “education or training (or both) relevant to the practice of a solicitor other than – (i) client care and professional standards, (ii) professional development and solicitor wellbeing, and (iii) written relevant material – as may be more particularly exemplified in the Scheme.”
  • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND SOLICITOR WELLBEING (MINIMUM 5 HOURS)
    • Financial and business management
    • Practice management
    • Professional Skills
    • Self-management skills and solicitor wellbeing
    • Language enhancement relevant to the practice of law
  • CLIENT CARE AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS (MINIMUM 3 HOURS)
    • Client care
    • Professional standards for solicitors
    • Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2015 and regulations made thereunder
    • Accounting and anti-money laundering compliance
    • Risk management
    • Data protection
    • The Solicitors Guide to Professional Conduct
    • Professional ethics and the maintenance of standards of best practice in complying with regulatory obligations
    • Processing of complaints against solicitors by the Society and the functions of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority and the courts in relation to same

Once the minimum requirements have been met in the categories of client care and professional standards and professional development and solicitor wellbeing, the balance CPD requirement can be completed by general CPD and/or professional development and solicitor wellbeing and/or client care and professional standards.

An excess of hours in the category of client care and professional standards may be applied to the category of professional development and solicitor wellbeing.

The accounting and anti-money laundering 1-hour compliance requirement can be fulfilled by training in accounting or anti-money laundering compliance or any combination of both.

The above is taken from the 2024 CPD Scheme Booklet, pages 17 – 20 of the Booklet set out the courses relevant to the different categories.

To view the courses and the categories see https://www.lawsociety.ie/globalassets/documents/cpd-scheme/2024-cpd-scheme-booklet.pdf

A FURTHER UK EXAMPLE OF AML NON-COMPLIANCE AND THE FINE IMPOSED BY THE SRA

On the 17 January 2024, it was reported on the website of the Law Society of England and Wales that the Solicitors Regulatory Authority fined a firm £23,216 (2% of its annual turnover, reduced by 20% to take into account mitigating factors) wherein it had failed to check any sources of funds on three property transactions between 2018 and 2020 (this is almost the maximum the SRA can impose).

In one of the property matters, information received from the client was inconsistent with how they were funding the purchase. The firm recorded that a deposit of £185,000 had purportedly been paid to the seller’s solicitor by a previous firm but the firm failed to make any enquiries to verify this payment.  It transpired that the previous firm had never been instructed in this matter and had never handled a deposit.

The firm also released £46,000 to the seller’s solicitor on the instructions of the client’s financial adviser, who was not authorised to make any such call.  At the time, the transaction appeared to have fallen through because the client could not obtain a mortgage, and there was therefore no reason for these funds to be released.

The SRA found ‘areas of concern’ over the firm’s compliance with money laundering regulations and its code of conduct.  The firm had no firm-wide risk assessment in place until January 2020 and no policies, controls and procedures to mitigate the risks of money laundering

The SRA said: “The firm failed to undertake, evidence or scrutinise source of funds, of significant amounts of money.  The firm’s enquiries were limited to the location of the funds, as opposed to identifying how and from where the client got the money for the transaction. This meant the firm was unable to satisfy itself that the funds were not the proceeds of crime.”

To view this in full see https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sra-issues-near-maximum-fine-to-firm-breaching-aml-rules/5118434.article

O’LEARY INSURANCES PUBLISH CYBER MATTERS NEWSLETTER

O’Leary’s published its first quarterly Cyber Matters Newsletter of 2024.  This edition sets out ‘what to avoid if a cyber incident occurs’ namely AVOID engaging vendors before anything else, AVOID negotiating the ransom yourself, AVOID restoring data on your own, AVOID disclosing too much too soon.

It also sets out two recent cyber instances from their client base.   In one case where a cybercrime loss occurred – ‘Hackers gained access to a client’s computer systems. The criminals hijacked selected internal emails, namely around a bank transfer taking place.  They duped employees within the company into sending €160,000 to the criminals’ bank account. These monies were not recovered’

Again, always be vigilant and ensure you have robust procedures in place when transferring money.

To view this newsletter in full see https://www.olearyinsurances.ie/contentFiles/newsFiles/Q1_2024_Cyber_Matters_Newsletter.pdf

SURVEY IDENTIFIES CYBER-CRIME BEING THE MOST PREVALENT FINANCIAL THREAT

On the 17 January 2024, it was reported on the Law Society of Ireland website that a survey carried out by the Compliance Institute, on 230 compliance professionals working in financial-services organisations, has found that cyber-crime is considered the most prevalent financial crime in Ireland.

Cyber-crime – including hacking, phishing, and online scams – was found to be the most prevalent financial crime by 34% of respondents.

Tax evasion and fraud were next, with both named by 21% of those surveyed, while 19% identified money-laundering.

The Compliance Institute’s CEO Michael Kavanagh said that cyber-crime was advancing at a pace so fast that organisations and legislators could not keep up.

Kavanagh welcomed Government plans, announced last year, to create a national anti-ransomware organisation, and offer subsidies to small businesses to help fight cyber-security threats.

To view this article in full see https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/2024/january/cyber-issues-top-crime-threat-to-finance

GIVE AWAY SIGNS OF PHISHING

The National Cyber Security Centre publishes numerous useful guides.  Below is a link to a quick guide on phishing.

See https://www.ncsc.gov.ie/pdfs/NCSC_Quick_Guide_Phishing.pdf

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