Latest news
Legal aid cuts force leading civil liberties chambers to dissolve
Tooks Chambers – the civil liberties set led by campaigning QC Michael Mansfield – has today announced that it has begun the process of dissolution as a “direct result of the government’s policies on legal aid”.
Revealed: the law firms that still don’t have a COLP or COFA in place
More than a year on from the deadline for law firms to nominate their compliance officers for legal practice and for finance and administration, and 40 practices still remain without anyone in place, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed.
From the naive to the desperate: SRA reveals anatomy of failing law firms
Misleading funders, inflating work-in-progress valuations and shortages in client account are among the common features of financially unstable firms that are currently under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, it has emerged.
ABS bids to leverage clients’ trust of solicitors to expand into non-legal services
The trust that solicitors engender among their clients should be leveraged, with other services operating under legal professionals’ banner within alternative business structures, according to the head of one of the newest ABSs.
LSB chair calls on Law Society and SRA to stop “spats”
The chairman of the Legal Services Board has criticised the “continuing spats” between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority. David Edmonds also praised the improvements made by the SRA to the process for licensing alternative business structures.
Top conveyancing firm warns of separate representation “calamity”
Scotland’s largest law firm conveyancer has entered the separate representation debate, critiquing the move as “politically motivated, opportunistic, regressive” and “anti-competitive”, and a “calamity” for solicitors and consumers.
‘ABS to the shires’ targets membership worth £13bn
An alternative business structure with access to clients with assets of more than £13bn has been launched by the Country Gentlemen’s Association, whose members who are mainly landowners, farmers, and retired military personnel.
Riverview and DMH unveil fixed-fee M&A service
The strategic alliance between Riverview Law and DMH Stallard has borne its first fruit, with the pair promising to handle mergers and acquisitions of any size on a fixed fee.
LSB bids to stamp authority on post-LETR reform agenda
The Legal Services Board is to issue statute-backed guidelines to compel legal regulators to follow its vision of how reforms resulting from the Legal Education and Training Review should be implemented.
SRA puts 1,200 firms on financial stability watchlist – how many more will join them?
The Solicitors Regulation Authority now has 1,200 law firms on its financial stability watchlist, with more likely to join it shortly, it has emerged. It follows the recent request for financial data from 2,000 practices.
Blog
Supreme Court redraws line between member and employee in LLPs
For anyone advising professional services firms on LLP structuring, and of course for those in LLPs themselves, last week’s Supreme Court ruling is an essential read.
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.
