Latest news
QASA will drive solicitors out of criminal law, Law Society warns
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) will drive many solicitors out of criminal law, the Law Society has warned. It is the latest hostile response to the final consultation on the scheme ahead of its introduction in January.
The future of PI: external investment, few CMCs and five or six major claimant firms
“Numerous” external investors will appear alongside consolidation and new structures once the “floodgates of change” hit the personal injury market next year – with just five or six claimant firms likely to dominate – an authoritative new report has predicted.
COLPs "need access to external legal advice" if facing conflict with firm management
Compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) should be allowed to buy in independent external advice at their firm’s expense in the event of a conflict with management, according to two senior solicitor consultants.
Law Society takes equity stake in compliance software business
The Law Society has taken the unusual step of investing in a company set up by a non-lawyer law firm partner to sell a groundbreaking web-based risk and compliance software package for solicitors.
Oh yes – Direct Line set for ABS as it reveals £110m solicitor referral fee income since 2009
Insurance company Direct Line will shortly make an application to become an alternative business structure, with the referral fee ban set to choke off a source of income that has raised £110m over the past three and a half years, it has emerged.
LSB: current financial protection regime risks giving clients "false confidence"
Compensation arrangements for consumers involved in legal transactions that go wrong are outdated and need to be improved, the Legal Services Board has said in calling on its consumer panel to undertake research and provide advice on the issue.
PwC targets in-house counsel with “legal effectiveness” service
Big Four accountancy firm PwC has launched a new service aimed at helping in-house lawyers look at how they operate internally – and also manage their external legal advice. PwC has hired Stephen Allen, formerly director of innovation at City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, to head it.
Revealed: criminal Bar threatens JR over "unlawful and unworkable" advocacy scheme
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is unlawful, unnecessary and unworkable and will be judicially reviewed if it goes ahead, criminal law barristers will warn this week in a response to the final consultation seen by this website.
Price tops list of reasons why GCs give law firms the boot
The biggest single reason general counsel are dropping law firms is price, according to a survey of top in-house lawyers at major global corporations. Lack of demand and quality of results are featured high up in the list.
SRA "hoodwinked" over financial services change, expert warns
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has been “hoodwinked” into changing its rules on referrals to financial advisers and risks involving solicitors in the mis-selling of investment products, a former senior financial regulator has claimed.
Blog
When AI becomes a line on the client’s bill
On 23 June, Legora changed how it charges. The platform announced that its most capable product was moving away from a flat per-seat licence fee to consumption-based pricing
Which legal AI will still matter in 12 months?
Four years ago, when senior partners asked me which legal AI they should buy, I would have walked them through a vendor comparison. Now I tell them the question is wrong.
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.
