Latest news
Firms urged to go beynd PEP and adopt quality and risk performance measures
Large law firms need to embrace new ways to measure firm and partner performance as traditional methods – such as profits per equity partner – “can be irrelevant, encourage inappropriate behaviours, discourage innovation and tend to be short term in focus”, a leading law firm consultant has advised.
HMRC to press ahead with LLP tax changes on 6 April but offers some concessions
Controversial changes to the taxation of LLPs will go ahead on 6 April, HM Revenue & Customs announced late last week, but has made some small concessions in response to the concerns of lawyers and others – including giving more time to contribute capital.
CLC targets wider brief as property sector regulator
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers wants the power to regulate lawyers other than licensed conveyancers, as part of a strategy targeted at expanding its role within the property sector.
Lender panel data scheme heads for launch despite solicitors’ worries
A privately run portal that will centralise conveyancing panel member firms’ information on behalf of participating mortgage lenders, is gearing up for launch amid controversy fuelled by Law Society reservations about the scheme.
LSB and Law Society on new collision course over SRA appointments
The Legal Services Board is heading for another confrontation with the Law Society after proposing to take away its responsibility for appointing the chairman and board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
LSB to impose controversial lay chair requirement on regulators
The frontline regulators will be required to have lay chairs in future after the Legal Services Board (LSB) pressed ahead with its controversial change to the internal governance rules.
Tribunal rejects SRA appeal against sex discrimination ruling
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has lost its appeal against an employment tribunal decision that it discriminated against a female employee after revoking her part-time working agreement.
After BigLaw and NewLaw, here comes MicroLaw
The case for ‘micro’ law firms – small, boutique practices spun out of larger firms – is growing as lawyers struggle to control the ‘Leviathan’ of big practices, a top academic has argued.
Investment boost for legal research website targeting crowdsourcing to generate content
A commercial legal research website is under development that aims to harness the power of crowdsourcing to generate content and become the starting point for enquiries by law student and lawyers. It has just received £60,000 in private investment.
QASA claimants bid to fight on to Court of Appeal
The legal challenge to the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is not yet dead after it emerged that the claimants have gone to the Court of Appeal to seek permission to appeal.
Blog
Preparing people for the pace of technological change
While technology often dominates the conversation, I believe the most important challenge facing law firms is not adopting new tools – it is preparing people to adapt alongside them.
Reorientation in the AI era must begin with the client
Much of the discussion about AI in the legal industry focuses on technology: which tools to adopt and which tasks might get automated. But this misses the deeper story.
Awaab’s Law phase 2: New hazards council tenants can now claim for
The conversation on housing disrepair is moving beyond damp and mould alone. With the rollout of phase 2 of Awaab’s Law, the scope of issues covered is expanding significantly,
