Latest news

An investigation into the benefits of cross-examination and disclosure could be next on the costs reform agenda, the Master of the Rolls has indicated. At the same time, an interim report into the national costs management pilot has found signs that it is producing benefits.

The private equity firm behind the UK’s first – and so far only – alternative business structure is beginning the hunt for another investment in the law, Legal Futures can reveal.

The outcome of yesterday’s high-profile Downing Street insurance summit appears to have put paid to any hopes among claimant lawyers that there is a compromise to be reached over the Jackson reforms.

Large law firms are showing increasing interest in forming multi-disciplinary practices with non-lawyer professionals, according to new research. The survey of 126 of the top 250 firms by accountants Smith & Williamson found that a third are interested in joining with a non-legal practice.

The proposed Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates threatens the independence of advocates, a senior judge claimed yesterday. Lord Justice Moses argued that quality of advocacy is best assured through compulsory training and more active reporting of poor advocates by judges.

Our latest news round-up reports on a barrister jailed after stealing £72,500 from his chambers, more problems with the SRA’s online PC renewal system, surveys on fixed fees and compliance, and the appeal court upholding a ruling against a firm innocently caught up in mortgage fraud.

Allison Wooddisse, head of LexisPSL Practice Compliance, looks at the whether and how law firms should indemnify COLPs against adverse consequences from taking on the role. Many COLPs are feeling jumpy but an indemnity is not as straightforward as it may appear.

The Legal Services Board has stepped into the controversy around the International Monetary Fund’s push to make countries receiving financial bailouts reform their legal professions as part of the deal.

Rocket Lawyer, the Google-backed US online legal document service, is on track to launch in the UK later this year, with lawyers set to be offered the chance to join its panel from next month, Legal Futures can reveal.

The government’s plans to reform the county courts have attracted criticism from both claimant and defendant lawyers as well as costs specialists – albeit for different reasons, with the lack of detail a particular bugbear.