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Expert Analysis

• What UK Professional Regulation Looks Like In A #MeToo Era

  

  Two recent rulings from U.K. courts and tribunals reveal the increasingly shifting line between professional misbehavior and bad actions that would previously have been considered outside the scope of professional regulators, says Andrew Katzen at Hickman & Rose.

• How Immune Are State Agents From Foreign Courts?

  

  The ongoing case of Basfar v. Wong is the latest to raise questions about the boundary between commercial or private activity and the exercise of sovereign authority that shields state agents from foreign judicial scrutiny — and the U.K. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the matter will likely bring clarity on exceptions to the immunity doctrine, say Andrew Stafford QC and Oleg Shaulko at Kobre & Kim.

• Opinion

  Justice Gap Demands Look At New Legal Service Models

  

  Current restrictions on how lawyers structure their businesses stand in the way of meaningful access to justice for many Americans, so states should follow the lead of Utah and Florida and test out innovative law firm business models through regulatory sandboxes, says Zachariah DeMeola at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

• Opinion

  New NJ Fed. Rule On Litigation Funding Should Be Welcomed

  

  The District of New Jersey's new local civil rule on litigation funding disclosure has faced exaggerated criticisms when it is a logical extension of the current practices in many U.S. jurisdictions, leads to greater transparency for the parties and the court without unduly burdening the parties, and is a positive development particularly in product liability cases, say attorneys at Dechert.

• Lessons In Civility From The Alex Oh Sanctions Controversy

  

  Alex Oh’s abrupt departure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and admonishment by a D.C. federal judge over conduct in an Exxon human rights case demonstrate three major costs of incivility to lawyers, and highlight the importance of teaching civility in law school, says David Grenardo at St. Mary's University.

• Rebuttal

  US Legal System Can Benefit From Nonlawyer Ownership

  

  Contrary to claims made in a recent Law360 guest article, nonlawyer ownership has incrementally improved the England and Wales legal system — with more innovation and more opportunities for lawyers — and there is no reason why those outcomes cannot also be achieved in the U.S., say Crispin Passmore at Passmore Consulting and Zachariah DeMeola at the University of Denver.

• Increasing Investment Scams Can Implicate Lawyers, Too

  

  With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for increased financial fraud, it's important to recognize that these scams are not only devastating for victims, they also pose a significant threat to law firms and individual solicitors who fail to do their due diligence, say James Darbyshire at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Heather Clark at Burness Paull.

• UK Lawyers Can Adapt Due Diligence To Screen New Clients

  

  As COVID-19-related fraud gains pace, U.K.-based practitioners should help combat money laundering by using alternative methods to verify that new clients are who they say they are, says Christopher Convey, a barrister at 33 Chancery Lane and chair of the Bar Council's Money Laundering Working Group.

• Key Risks And Developments For UK Law Firm Culture In 2020

  

  In 2020, law firms throughout the U.K. will be increasingly reshaped by rapid changes in societal expectations and advances in technology, say Helen Rowlands and Niya Phiri of Clyde & Co.

• #MeToo Pressure On UK Businesses Is Set To Rise

  

  Recent declarations by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority indicate that sexual harassment in the U.K.'s financial services industry may lead to consequences under the newly expanded Senior Managers and Certification Regime, and other sectors are facing growing scrutiny as well, say attorneys at Covington.

• Corporate Wrongdoing Risks Go Beyond Exec Departures

  

  Recent controversy over misconduct allegations that led to the ousting of a KPMG executive reminds firms that the challenges caused by suspecting or uncovering internal wrongdoing are not so easily solved by the implicated executive's exit, says Sarah Chilton of CM Murray.

• 2 Perspectives On Navigating The Litigation Funding Process

  

  Paul Martenstyn of Vannin Capital and Daniel Spendlove of Signature Litigation share their top tips on how to get a case funded, drawing from their respective experience as a funder and a lawyer.

• Answers To Key Legal Finance Ethics Questions

  

  While there is discussion in some quarters about new regulations on commercial legal finance, the hands-off approach taken by the majority of courts and legislatures is an implicit recognition that it is already sufficiently regulated, says Danielle Cutrona of Burford Capital.

• New Scrutiny For NDAs In Sexual Harassment Matters

  

  Recent government scrutiny of nondisclosure agreements related to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Steve Wynn and Harvey Weinstein raises the question of whether some uses of NDAs could amount to obstruction of justice or a violation of lawyers' ethical obligations, say attorneys at Cleary.

• Opinion

  SRA Should Not Condemn Lawful Tax Avoidance

  

  In suggesting that solicitors who facilitate tax avoidance breach its code of conduct, the Solicitors Regulation Authority fails to distinguish between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion, says attorney Martin Kenney.