Latest news
SRA set to publish names of uninsured firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority should this week publish a list of those law firms which were to have closed on 29 December because they failed to secure professional indemnity insurance, Legal Futures has learned.
Public access exemption for foreign clients coming to an end
The freedom for barristers to accept direct instructions from lay foreign clients – or from lay clients in England and Wales for a foreign matter – without having to undertake public access training is rapidly coming to an end.
Mayson moves on
University College London has scored a major coup by attracting Professor Stephen Mayson to join as an honorary professor in law. Previously head of the University of Law’s Legal Services Institute, he will be attached to the Centre for Ethics and Law.
SRA should reveal progress of malpractice investigations, says FoI adjudicator
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is keeping informants who allege malpractice by solicitors in the dark about the progress of their complaint, two years after the Law Society’s own freedom of information adjudicator urged that the problem should be addressed.
Report urges firms to swap ‘growth for growth’s sake’ with new ways of delivering legal services
Law firms need to re-examine their traditional business models and embrace change in how legal services are delivered if they are to survive, new research has argued. It said they need to build a better boat, not a bigger one.
Low Commission eyes up client account interest to help prime new national legal fund
The government was yesterday urged to take a ‘no holds barred’ approach to obtaining support and funds for overhauling social welfare legal support, including pro bono help from law students and cash from interest on solicitors’ client accounts.
PI firm adds ABS licence in dash for “spectacular” growth
A Lancashire personal injury firm that has grown from four to 100 staff in under four years and its turnover to £4.5m, has acquired an alternative business structure licence as part of ambitious growth plans.
Criminal solicitors’ chief tells ‘scab’ firms to “hang their heads in shame”
The chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association has hit out at law firms that sought to take advantage of their rivals’ absence from court during Monday’s morning of action against the legal aid cuts.
Referral fees at root of junior barristers’ woes, says Bar Council
An increasing tendency among solicitors to pay referral fees to each other and to use solicitor-advocates is diverting work away from junior barristers, ultimately threatening the quality of the judiciary, according to the Bar Council.
SRA tells uninsured firms to “come clean”
It is unclear how many of the 116 firms that were meant to have shut down last week for failing to secure professional indemnity insurance have actually done so, the Solicitors Regulation Authority admitted yesterday.
Blog
Small steps, big impact: how SME law firms are making legal tech work
For SME law firms, the priority is turning the potential of tech into measurable impact: success is driven not just by the technology, but by how firms approach planning and implementation.
Why housing disrepair claims against councils have leapt by nearly 400%
Housing disrepair claims against councils have surged dramatically in recent years, with some areas reporting increases approaching a staggering 400%.
Client accounts: Opportunity, obligation and the risks in between
The profitability gap between well-run firms and the rest is not primarily a function of size, location or practice area – it is a function of financial management.
