Company & Commercial
Insolvency cases on the rise after difficult year for litigation funder
Listed insolvency litigation funder Manolete saw its turnover and profit fall significantly in the last year due to Covid but is now seeing “strong growth in new case enquiries”.
Australian law firm targets UK SMEs with unlimited subscription service
A tech-driven Australian law firm offering SMEs unlimited, on-demand legal services on a subscription basis has set up in the UK, aiming to be the most visited law firm website within three years.
Appeal judges reject challenge to litigation funder assignment
Appeal judges have rejected a company director’s challenge against the assignment by an insolvency practitioner of a claim against her parents to a litigation funder.
Appeal court deprecates “act of deliberate concealment” by party
Civil litigation should be conducted “with cards on the table – face up” and the courts should not “sanction an act of deliberate concealment” by one of the parties, appeal judges have ruled.
City firm to pay £1.5m over negligent advice on company sale
City firm Charles Russell Speechlys has been ordered to pay two former clients nearly £1.5m after a High Court judge found its advice on the sale of their company negligent.
Platform aims to “mainstream” standardisation of contracts
A “standardisation-focused legal community platform” has been launched by the team behind oneNDA, the initiative which created a standard non-disclosure agreement used by 600 organisations.
No need for new laws on smart contracts, Law Commission says
There is no need for new legislation on smart contracts because the existing laws of England and Wales can accommodate them, the Law Commission has said.
National firm’s subscription service “will change the way we work”
National law firm BLM launched a subscription service for commercial work this week which it describes as “a long-term project which will change the way we work”.
Litigation analytics firm turns focus on IP
A litigation analytics company is using machine learning to help lawyers predict the outcome of intellectual property cases, in what is believed to be the first move of its kind in the UK.
Fast-growing virtual legal business launches global trade mark service
A virtual legal business based in the UK has launched what it believes to be the first global trade mark search, registration and watching service entirely run by lawyers.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
