Home Office “task force” for solicitor misconduct
Guardian, Independent, Gazette, Telegraph (£), Evening Standard, Daily Mail, ITV News, LBC News, Legal Futures, Sunday Post, Shropshire Star, Bournemouth Echo, South Wales Argus, Glasgow Times, Express & Star, North Norfolk News, Oxford Mail, Hereford Times and more than 500 other outlets report our reaction to the announcement that a Home Office “task force” would target immigration lawyers engaged in misconduct. This announcement comes after a Mail on Sunday report shows several immigration lawyers submitting false asylum claims. BBC Radio Berkshire also mentioned Richard’s comments on its programme this morning.
Law Society Deputy Vice President Richard Atkinson said: “This ‘task force’ has been around for months now, so it is not clear what, if anything, the Government is announcing today.”
He added: “The Government, regulators and law enforcement agencies already have the powers they need to deal with immigration advisers engaged in misconduct.
“The overwhelming majority of immigration lawyers continue to support the rule of law through their adherence to the law and professional standards set by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and provide an essential service to clients.
“The focus of the Home Office on a tiny minority of lawyers to which they are apparently applying considerable resources should not deflect from the fact that there remains significant backlogs in asylum claims or the unworkability of the Illegal Migration Act.”
David McNeill, Director of Public Affairs at the Law Society, also spoke to Good Morning Britain and Radio 4’s Today Programme about the announcement of the “task force.”
David said: “It’s not in our interest to have any solicitor acting improperly or crookedly, but this announcement today is something of a red herring.
“This task force which they tout with such aggressive language has been in existence for months now so really from our perspective it just looks like a bit of lawyer-bashing as a distraction from really bad news for the Government on the number of asylum seekers now accommodated in hotels – 50,000.
“Problems with processing asylum claims – the backlog is continuing to be extremely bad with cases taking over a year – and also the quality of the case work.
“Most asylum claims are successful. Those claims which are unsuccessful go to appeal; over half are granted on appeal.
“There’s something fundamentally wrong with this system.”
Delays in family courts
Luton Today, Hucknall Dispatch, Doncaster Free Press, Worksop Guardian, Ashfield Chad, Blackpool Gazette, Milton Keynes Citizen and several other regional publications continue coverage on the delays in family courts which are causing children removed from parents to wait for over a year for a decision on where they will live.
Law Society President Lubna Shuja said: “What is often missed in the debate around the unacceptable backlogs in our family courts is the impact on children.
“They are suffering the very real consequences of months and sometimes years of uncertainty about their future, preventing them from having the stability they need to thrive.”
Cris McCurley, a member of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee, said: “The entire family courts system is creaking after years of austerity cuts and neglect.”
“As a practitioner it is heartbreaking to have to deal with the consequences of this and I worry about the effect on children, some of whom have not seen their primary carer parent for more than three years. There needs to be investment in the system, now.”
Mark Evans elected as new Deputy Vice President
Solicitors Journal, Local Government Lawyer, and Insider Media report that Mark Evans has been elected as our next Deputy Vice President.
He will take office in October 2023, become Vice President in 2024 and in 2025, when we celebrate our 200th anniversary, he will become President of the Law Society.
Mark Evans said: “I am extremely proud to have been elected as the next deputy vice president of the Law Society and the first in our history to be elected from North Wales.
President Lubna Shuja said: “I extend my deepest congratulations to Mark, who emerged as the winner from a strong field of candidates. Mark will bring his own unique perspective and experience to the role.”
LSB to review enforcement tools available to regulators
STEP Journal covers our response to the news the Legal Services Board (LSB) is to review the enforcement and investigative tools available to regulators.
President Lubna Shuja said: “This request appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to the recent media investigation into a very small number of solicitors, who have been quickly dealt with by way of interim measures while their cases are properly considered.”
Signing of Memorandum of Understanding
India Today covers the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by the Law Society of England and Wales, the Bar Council of England and Wales, and the Bar Council of India in June.
Also worth a read:
- Lawyers intervene to stop transfer of more migrants to the Bibby Stockholm barge - Guardian
- Ministry of Defence and RAF would oppose plan to fly migrants to Ascension Island – Times (£)
- Report concludes that law firms must introduce safeguards that include human oversight to authenticate AI-generated content or expect an increased exposure to negligence claims – Legal Futures
- Three-quarters of law firms have experienced a drop in demand for legal services in last year – Legal Futures