Latest news
Validity of bar disciplinary decisions in question after major oversight
The validity of a large number of disciplinary findings against barristers is in question as a result of errors over the appointment of disciplinary tribunal members, it has emerged. It could allow those who have been disbarred, suspended or reprimanded to reopen their cases.
Mills & Reeve to start selling online package to help other family lawyers compete
Regional law firm Mills & Reeve will next month launch a fixed-price online know-how and training package for family lawyers that it claims will enable practitioners to compete in a shrinking market.
SRA: trainees could be paid £2.60 an hour in first year if minimum salary is scrapped
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to consider retaining the minimum salary for trainee solicitors at the level of the national minimum wage after discovering that without it trainees would be classed as apprentices and so could be paid just £2.60 an hour in their first year – less than £5,000.
Revealed: groundbreaking barristers’ chambers launches as SRA-regulated partnership
Six criminal law barristers have set up a chambers structured as a partnership and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Artesian Law is already looking to expand due to the number of instructions it has received.
New York lawyers told they cannot run the Big Apple operation of an ABS with external investors
New York lawyers are banned from running the Big Apple office of a UK alternative business structure with non-lawyer owners, the New York State Bar’s committee on professional ethics announced yesterday.
News round-up: financial stresses hit lawyers, slander case struck out, and much more
Our latest round-up of news in brief has a breakdown of calls in 2011 to legal support charity LawCare, better news on PII, a defamation battle between two employment law consultancies, developments over conveyancing panels, and SIFA launching a consultancy.
Bid to make referral fees a crime fizzles out
The prospect of paying referral fees in personal injury becoming a criminal offence seemingly disappeared last night, while the government defeated a bid to exempt not-for-profits from the ban and outlined its plans to crack down on unsolicited PI marketing.
Third of conveyancing firms “considering ABS conversion”
More than a third of conveyancing firms are considering becoming an alternative business structure, new research has found. The survey also revealed predictions of large-scale closures of traditional law firms as a result of new competition.
Bar Council attacks “overconfident” Legal Services Board for “super-regulator” ambitions
The Bar Council has attacked the Legal Services Board’s “overconfidence” and criticised its apparent desire to become a “super-regulator” rather than an oversight body. It said the LSB’s plans has ambitions to be involved in areas of activity where it should not be.
Innovative legal business opens Belfast “delivery centre” with £1.6m of public money
Innovative legal business Axiom has become the latest to open an operation in Belfast, with £1.6m of government support. Unlike at other law firm operations in the city, the 100 lawyers and paralegals will be the primary client-facing fee-earners for global companies.
Blog
A familiar story?
There is no doubt that the rising cost of clinical negligence claims deserves attention. However, the system’s true cost driver is often not the claim itself.
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.
