Latest news
Law Society signs joint venture deal to create conveyancing portal
The Law Society has teamed up with software company Mastek UK Limited to deliver its conveyancing portal, which aims to speed up the home-buying process. The pair have set up a joint venture company called Legal Practice Technologies Ltd.
Slater & Gordon will send out work to Linked to Law members
Slater & Gordon’s (S&G) new Linked to Law network will see cases going both ways between the alternative business structure and member firms, it has emerged.
Naked Legal offers stripped-down advice service
A stripped-down telephone advice service for a single pre-payment fee of £45 was launched this week by legal entrepreneur Brad Askew. Naked Legal does not offer formal legal advice, nor does it refer clients who need that advice to lawyers.
MPs demand SRA crackdown on personal injury lawyers “playing the system”
MPs have called on the government to put pressure on the Solicitors Regulation Authority to stop personal injury lawyers “playing the system” by commissioning unnecessary medical reports on psychological injuries.
SRA goes ahead with £500,000 PII limit but postpones other reforms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided to go ahead with cutting the minimum compulsory cover for indemnity insurance from £2m to £500,000, despite strong opposition from the Law Society.
Smaller law firms “face battle to keep junior partners” as HMRC deadline looms
Smaller law firms are struggling to retain their junior partners in advance of tough new capital requirements set out by HM Revenue & Customs in its crackdown on fixed-share partners avoiding PAYE tax, an executive search firm has claimed.
Newly acquired ABS hits the acquisition trail as promised
Simpson Millar – the law firm acquired last month by AIM-listed Fairpoint Group – has begun making good on its promise to go on the acquisition trail by snapping up Bristol-based family law firm Foster & Partners.
Lack of parliamentary time set to delay independent practice rights for legal executives
There may be a delay in giving the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) the power to grant the rights to conduct reserved probate and conveyancing work, it has emerged.
New LSB chairman joins calls for single regulator
Sir Michael Pitt, the new chairman of the Legal Services Board, has joined calls by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, and Lord Neuberger, president of the Supreme Court, for a single regulator.
Bar Council and BSB confirm big drop in number of new tenancies
The number of tenancies available for newly qualified barristers fell dramatically in the most recent year for which figures are available – but not as badly as had been feared.
Blog
Motor finance – the FCA is more worried about banks than consumers
The Financial Conduct Authority’s motor finance redress scheme announced last week amounts to one of the largest ever consumer failures by the regulator.
Mazur: a symptom not a cause?
If Mazur is a symptom, what does it mean for the underlying health of our civil justice system: the ‘finest legal system in the world’?
Cross-generation collaboration: the key to in-house legal tech adoption
In-house legal function leaders will increasingly have to evolve their thinking on how to manage multigenerational teams containing differing levels of technological expertise.
