BRINGING IN-HOUSE COUNSEL AND PRIVATE PRACTICE TOGETHER

The Lawyer Legal Summit is a singular opportunity for you as senior in-house counsel to examine best practice, digest fresh insights and build relationships with your peers from commerce and private practice.Within the framework of a two-day conference the unique format of the Summit enables you to maximise the value of your attendance through a personalised itinerary that is worth 11 CPD Hours.The Legal Summit consists of three main elements: The core of the Legal Summit is a cutting edge conference programme - split into three streams that cover a broad range of essential management, business-relationship and regulatory issues. Each session will be hosted by senior lawyers from in-house and private practice in a lively and interactive format. Developing new and existing relationships with legal advisers is an important element of the role of a modern general counsel. Throughout the Lawyer Legal Summit there are several opportunities for you to have informal one-to-one meetings with private practice delegates of your choice. In addition to the conference programme, there are also a further 16 hours built into the schedule for informal networking with your peers from industry and private practice. This includes the magnificent Gala Dinner at one of Lisbon's most exclusive venues.

SRA launches mortgage fraud investigations of 60 lawyers

SRA launches mortgage fraud investigations of 60 lawyers Nina Goswami 7-Mar-2008 Email this article Printer friendly version Comment on this article

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is investigating up to 60 lawyers for alleged mortgage fraud after complaints more than tripled since 2004. SRA spokesman Geoff Negus said the Authority is taking the lawyers' involved in mortgage fraud extremely seriously. "The Solicitors Regulation Authority is investigating 40 to 60 solicitors who may be involved in mortgage fraud," added Negus. According to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), complaints against solicitors rose from 85 accusations in 2004 to 293 in 2007. The news comes as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is also investigating links into solicitors as part of a larger probe into mortgage fraud. The SFO has searched 42 locations including four law firms. No arrests have been made in the ongoing investigation, an SFO spokeswoman. The complaints centre around organised mortgage fraud that took place in the early 1990s leading to UK lenders losing an estimated £700m last year. The grievances include the overvaluation of new buildings and deliberate inflation of commercial real estate prices. The SRA refused to reveal the identities of the individuals involved but Browne Jacobson, Cobbetts, DLA Piper and Eversheds are all defending multimillion pound-lawsuits alleging negligence linked to mortgage fraud. Eversheds is defending two separate suits filed in the High Court by the Nationwide Building Society for more than £20m and by the Bank of Ireland. Eversheds said it is an innocent victim in both cases. An Eversheds spokeperson said: "Eversheds was clearly not involved in any wrongdoing but rather, like the Bank of Ireland, was an innocent party and a victim of fraud perpetrated by others."