The New Year fitness regime has started
Christmas has been and gone and the festivities of New Year are over. Despite the hangover, is the real headache yet to come? Possibly, if you’re starting 2013 as your firm’s compliance office for legal practice and/or for finance and administration (COLP/COFA). here might well be a surge of activity and enthusiasm at the start but as time goes on and other priorities come to the fore, the risk of neglecting the fitness regime increases. This can’t be allowed to happen. So what should COLPs and COFAs be looking to do in the first month of their new role?
Is Google the answer to the referral fee ban?
Posted by Stephen Moore: In April next year, the legal sector will face another huge shake-up as the ban on personal injury referrals comes into force. According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), personal Injury work is worth an estimated £1.8bn a year. A quarter of all solicitor firms in England and Wales carry out personal injury work, which, in 2011 accounted for 7% of the total estimated market value. The Law Society of England and Wales most recent annual report lists general personal injury work as among the most competitive areas alongside the likes of conveyancing, crime and wills and probate. What differentiates personal injury from these other sectors, of course, is the existence of claims management companies.
Recognising the need for technology investment
Posted by Arlene Adams, CEO of Legal Futures Associate, Peppermint Technology: Some 86% of law firms claim they will replace and invest in new business applications in the coming 24 months. This is a significant finding, well above industry average, but reflects the change in the UK legal market today. The market dynamics brought about by the Legal Services Act and the Jackson reforms are driving firms to adopt technology to compete and survive.
Silence of the lambs
This is a week for stating the obvious. Extolling the importance of judicial diversity earlier this week, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said: “Every human being is a unique human being. And because every human being is a unique human being, we are all different in one way or another. Some of the ways are obvious. There are adults and children. There are men and women.” So let me state something that at least appears obvious. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is a public interest regulator. It behoves such an organisation to be open and transparent wherever possible. Yesterday I witnessed an example of the SRA doing everything but that. Yes, I’m afraid that I am back on my longstanding hobby horse of transparency (or lack of it) in the legal profession.
Why can't we be friends?
What would happen if a number of firms in a county decided that the best way to face the future was to specialise in a specific area of work? If they each agreed which practice areas they would cover with each other and agreed to work reciprocally? If they cross-referred to each other with the aim of dominating their local area?
