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Kathryn Mortimer, head of legal services for the DAS UK Group, has been named managing director of its new law firm, DAS Law. DAS Law was created after the legal expenses insurer was granted an alternative business structure licence.

The dream of partnership is becoming ever harder to fulfil, especially for female solicitors, according to Law Society figures. Whereas in 1992 52% of solicitors in private practice were partners, that figure slumped to 42% in 2002 and less than 35% in 2012.

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) plans to issue guidance on the financial penalties it will impose on alternative business structures (ABSs) and those working in them are premature, the Law Society has claimed.

Law firms will be held responsible for breaching the personal injury referral fee ban if they sign up to ventures that appear to be genuine joint marketing schemes but prove illegal, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned. It will also target senior individuals within firms that “recklessly trade into insolvency”.

There will be close scrutiny on the Solicitors Regulation Authority to ensure that alternative business structures (ABSs) tying insurers and solicitors together prioritise their duties to injured people, the regulator was warned yesterday.

Three-quarters of lawyers in the UK and Ireland report being more stressed than they were five years ago but two-thirds are reluctant to report their concerns to employers, a survey has found. Seven out of ten said their work environment was stressful.

The Legal Services Board is to keep the performance of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in issuing alternative business structure licences under scrutiny, it has emerged. We have discovered that in January it issued a statutory notice requiring the SRA to provide information.

The names of 1,617 law firms and barristers who have been the subject of a formal decision by the Legal Ombudsman are now in the public domain. But there are positive signs for the legal profession in how few have recorded even five formal decisions.

A majority of consumers would consider buying legal services from big brands, but publicity around alternative business structures and new ways to access the law over the past two years has not increased their appetite, research has indicated.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is holding firm against criticism over its position on unrated professional indemnity insurers after Latvian underwriter Balva – which covers 1,300 law firms – was prohibited from writing new UK business.