Latest news
Exclusive: Law Society puts paralegal accreditation scheme on hold
The Law Society has delayed the launch of its paralegal accreditation scheme, Legal Futures has learned. The scheme – aimed at non-qualified staff working in organisations regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority – was scheduled to go live in autumn 2013.
Partnership tax reforms “will impede law firm investment”
Reformed HMRC rules dealing with the taxation of partnerships will obstruct “innocent” firms trying to invest in their businesses and force them to modify their profit-sharing arrangements, according to a leading firm of accountants.
SRA still trying to work out how many firms don’t have insurance
A “substantial” number of law firms have failed to tell the Solicitors Regulation Authority whether or not they have professional indemnity insurance, the regulator admitted today. The SRA would not reveal how many had not declared their insurance position.
Here come the accountants and legal executives…
Competition in the law is to increase further after the Legal Services Board backed accountants to handle reserved probate work and set up alternative business structures, as well as chartered legal executives to set up their own conveyancing and probate practices.
… as LSB chair accuses Law Society and Bar of wanting to stifle competition
The Law Society and Bar Council’s call for the government to return large swathes of regulation to them is self-serving and aims to restrict competition, the chairman of the Legal Services Board has claimed.
MPs probe OLC chair-in-waiting, as CMC complaints impasse finally broken
The Legal Ombudsman should swap the telephone for the internet as the main way it deals with the public and in doing so reflect the market it serves, according to the man likely to become chair of its oversight body, the Office for Legal Complaints.
Crime firms’ “bad treatment” of clients will only get worse with cuts, study predicts
The academic who earlier this year angered criminal defence practitioners when he revealed research suggesting the firms he shadowed had mistreated their clients, has warned that the legal aid cuts planned by the Ministry of Justice will only make things worse.
In-Deed brand acquisition aimed at building up online property panel
The In-Deed conveyancing brand has been acquired by the owner of an online property panel – the final step in the dissolution of the country’s first alternative business structure (ABS) failure.
IPReg poised to become ABS licensing authority number 3
The prospect of external investment in intellectual property firms is set to soar after the Intellectual Property Regulation Board won the support of the Legal Services Board to become the third alternative business structure licensing authority.
Consumers not persuaded by cheap conveyancing quotes, major survey finds
The large majority of home movers do not opt for the cheapest conveyancing, and are generally happy with the service provided by their solicitor or licensed conveyancer, major new research has found.
Blog
Charting a new course for publicly funded legal services
The current Legal Aid Agency model is inherently flawed and it goes beyond mere data breaches – it cannot innovatively respond to increasing challenges.
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.
