Latest news

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to review whether the requirement for small law firms to have compliance officers is “overkill”, it emerged today.

Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has announced an operating loss of £5.1m in the first half of 2014, a 70% increase on last year. However, there is no sign of the Co-operative Group selling it off.

Two barristers caught up in high-profile disciplinary actions have referred complaints about lack of funding from the Bar Mutual indemnity fund to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), it has emerged.

The Legal Services Board said yesterday that it supports recognition of fee-charging McKenzie Friends as a “legitimate feature of the evolving legal services market”, but also called for safeguards.

The march of outsourcing giant Capita plc into the legal market continued today with its acquisition of well-known case management software provider Eclipse Legal Systems.

Solicitors are concerned about the lack of certainty on the UK’s future relationship with the European Union, the Law Society has warned the government. It also revealed research that showed that every 100 jobs in the legal services market supports 67 elsewhere in the economy.

The Claims Management Regulation Unit is “still not tough enough” in tackling the behaviour of financial services claims management companies, a leading consumer credit specialist has said.

Richard Barnett, former chair of the Law Society’s land law and conveyancing committee, has called for an independent QC to investigate disciplinary allegations against him before his case reaches the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).

Private equity business Palamon Capital Partners has brought in technology lawyer David Grossman to spearhead its plans to build the UK’s largest legal services provider.

The Law Society’s latest advertising campaign, launched today, highlights the role of solicitors as regulated professionals, under the slogan ‘Use a Professional. Use a Solicitor.’