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The first barrister to become a partner in a legal disciplinary practice is a consumer credit specialist in the West Midlands, Legal Futures can reveal. Portia O’Connor, who practises from her own chambers in Birmingham, Pegasus Chambers, set up Pegasus Legal Research in conjunction with solicitor Sameena Kauser.

A majority of consumers expect good law firms to offer their services online in the next couple of years, a survey of over 2,000 people has shown. It also showed that nearly half of consumers would be more likely to choose a firm that offered online access.

ILEX Professional Standards (IPS) is to seek conveyancing and criminal advocacy and litigation rights for legal executives, it has emerged. It forms part of IPS’s plan to become a regulator of alternative business structures.

Legal Futures Editor Neil Rose recently edited ‘Legal Efficiency’, a supplement published by The Times covering a range of key issues facing the profession as it moves into a new era. This is his article on the likely implications of alternative business structures

The Bar Standards Board has fired a warning shot across the bows of its solicitor counterpart, warning that “there will be instances where outcomes-based regulation is likely to be inadequate on its own, even if supplemented by guidance”.

The row about introducing alternative business structures in Scotland took a fresh turn this week after members of the Law Society of Scotland voted very narrowly to support the current policy in favour of them.

Nicole Curtis has become one of the first barristers to become a partner in a legal disciplinary practice (LDP) after being made up by Penningtons. There are now 186 LDPs, which between them have 210 partners – 83 non-solicitor lawyers and 127 non-lawyers

The Conservatives will move quickly if elected to consult on plans to consolidate all solicitor client accounts in one place and apply the interest that accrues to the legal aid fund, Legal Futures can reveal.

The Legal Services Board is making contingency plans to regulate alternative business structures itself if none of the current approved regulators are up to the task, it has emerged. The LSB’s 2010/11 business plan, published today, says that it will scope out the requirements for direct licensing during the summer.

The Legal Services Board has delayed a decision on whether the civil standard of proof should apply to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new powers to publicly rebuke and fine solicitors because of concerns raised by the Law Society and Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.