NOVEMBER 2024 – ARTICLES & ITEMS OF INTEREST

CHANGES TO MATERNITY LEAVE – RIGHT TO PAUSE MATERNITY LEAVE FOR SERIOUS ILLNESS

From 20 November 2024, employees can postpone their maternity leave if they need ongoing treatment for a serious health condition.  

You can postpone your maternity leave for between 5 and 52 weeks, if you become seriously ill while on maternity leave and you need ongoing treatment for your health condition.  A serious health condition is one that is a serious risk to your life and health, this covers both physical and mental illnesses that are certified by your doctor.  

You must notify your employer if you need to postpone maternity leave.  You must give 2 weeks’ notice and provide a medical certificate.

These new rights are set out in the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024, see https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2024/act/37/enacted/en/print.html 

Employers should review and update their maternity leave policies to reflect same.

UK – AML FINES

On the 14 November, the Law Society of England and Wales reported that the Solicitors Regulation Authority issued fines of more than £57,000 on firms’ breaching money laundering regulations.

The largest financial penalty was handed to Oldham firm, Wrigley Claydon Solicitors, which agreed to pay £24,123 and costs of £600 after failing to have a documented risk assessment between 2017 and 2023.  Based on three of six files reviewed it was identified the firm failed to conduct client and matter risk assessments. 

Surrey firm, Hill Johnson & Leo was fined £18,094 after compliance issues were identified by SRA inspectors.  The firm did not have a compliant risk assessment from 2017 to 2023 and as far back as 2011 could not show that it had carried out the required due diligence on new clients.

North west London practice L.A.R.K Solicitors was fined £6,000 for not having in place a documented firm-wide risk assessment for five years and failing to tailor its new risk assessment to the firm.  It also failed to maintain records of its risk assessment, although that has now been remedied.

VKM Solicitors of Wolverhampton and Birmingham firm Margetts & Ritchie were also fined £4,932 and £3,828 respectively for AML breaches.

The general findings and reasoning from the SRA for all five firms’ fined “was that the firm’s conduct showed a ‘disregard for statutory and regulatory obligations’ and had the potential to cause harm, by facilitating dubious transactions that could have led to money laundering.  This could have been avoided had the firm established adequate AML documentation and controls.  There was no evidence of harm to consumers or third parties, a low risk of repetition and the firm did not financially benefit from the misconduct.”

To view this article in full see https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/57k-in-fines-in-two-days-sra-ramps-up-aml-action/5121528.article

UK – AML FINES

On the 19 November 2024, the Law Society of England and Wales reported that a Devon firm had been fined £12,152 and costs of £600, because it could not show that it had the obligatory anti-money laundering risk assessment in place over a period in the past. The Solicitors Regulation Authority said that while Stamp James Solicitors currently complies with money laundering regulations, the firm was not able to show evidence that this was the case between 2019 and 2023.

The firm was able to show a fully compliant document when the SRA sent in inspectors in September 2023, but could not locate previous versions.  The same applied for the required policies, controls and procedures document designed to manage the risks of money laundering, which were again in place last year but could not be evidenced for previous years.

The SRA stated the same reasoning as stated in the article above.

To view this article in full see https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/firm-that-couldnt-find-old-aml-documents-fined-12k/5121563.article

FIVE REASONS SOLICITORS SHOULD TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

This month on the Law Society of Scotland website, Sara Czarny, Secretary to the Law Society’s Sustainability Committee, highlights five reasons why the legal sector should tackle climate change.

This article sets out several reasons under 5 headings:-

• Client Expectations
• Attract and retain talent
• Future-proof for regulations
• The business case – cost savings over time
• Make a positive impact 

Sara Czarny concludes by saying “COP29 is an opportunity to reflect but also to get started. So, if you could do one thing based on the reasoning above, why not do that today? One change, is one step closer to creating a profession (and a world) with a more sustainable future.”

To view this article in full see https://www.lawscot.org.uk/news-and-events/blogs-opinions/cop29-five-reasons-solicitors-should-tackle-climate-change/ 

REMINDER – NEW CPD REGIME

On page 60 of the autumn edition of the Parchment, Matthew Kenny DSBA President reminds practitioners of the new CPD regime for 2024.  

He writes “The purpose of this note is to make sure you are aware of the relevant changes, and they are as follows:-

• Firstly, the overall requirement as a practising Solicitor with less than 40 years’ experience is 25 hours.

• Of those 25 hours, 5 must be in person and cannot be remote learning.

• Changes have been made to the requirements in relation to what were up until now Practice Management CPD points and Regulatory CPD points.

• Two new headings have been introduced ‘Professional Development & Solicitor Wellbeing’ and ‘Client Care & Professional Standards’.”

He discusses the two new headings and concludes by saying “the function of this article is to make sure that you do not discover these new changes in late December 2024 when you are completing your application to the Law Society for your new practising certificate.”

To view this article see https://issuu.com/256media/docs/parchment_autumn_2024-flipbookpdf?e=0  

Please note there are several CPD hours (both Professional Development & Solicitor Wellbeing and Client Care & Professional Standards) available in the LQSI members’ area.

LEGAL PARTNERSHIPS

Legal partnerships are a new business structure which for the first time allows solicitors to form partnerships with barristers and barristers to form partnerships with other barristers to deliver legal services to consumers.

The LSRA will host an online information session on legal partnerships on Tuesday 10 December from 8:00 am to 8:45 am.  To register for this event see https://www.lsra.ie/lsra-event-legal-partnerships-online-information-session/ 

On the 26 November the LSRA welcomed the first legal partnership formed in Ireland, to view this see https://www.lsra.ie/lsra-welcomes-irelands-first-legal-partnership-law-firm/

DISCIPLINARY TRIBUNAL OUTCOMES NOW PUBLISHED ONLINE

Outcomes of inquiries held by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (LPDT) into complaints of misconduct brought to it by the LSRA and the Law Society of Ireland have been published for the first time.

These reports are available to view on the LPT’s website – https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/6655e-determinations-of-the-tribunal-and-the-high-court/ 

To view this article dated 20 November on the LSRA website see https://www.lsra.ie/disciplinary-tribunal-outcomes-now-published-online/