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Work is needed to determine whether solicitors who offer contingency fees could find themselves on the hook for a successful defendant’s costs, Lord Justice Jackson said last week. He said a working party might be needed to resolve outstanding issues.

There has been a big rise in the number of law firms in distress, with the advent of alternative business structures (ABSs) set to make things worse, corporate recovery specialists Begbies Traynor have claimed.

Birmingham and Westminster city councils are teaming up with legal video conferencing business Instant Law to provide library users with free access to online advice, Legal Futures can reveal.

Twelve large City law firms have registered their interest with a novel recruitment business that places senior lawyers with followings as consultants at law firms, allowing them to run their own practices and keep most of their billings, while drawing on the support and reputation of the firm.

The introduction of self-regulation for third-party litigation funding may not be sustainable in the long term, a team of leading academics has warned. They also highlighted the risks that contingency fees pose.

News round-up takes in an important court victory for the Legal Services Commission on legal aid payments, a major survey showing that City lawyer salaries are very much on the up and partners borrowing more to pay tax bills.

The Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority have been granted leave to intervene in a High Court case on whether professional indemnity insurers should be able to effectively cap cover by aggregating claims against a firm – with a bill of £50m at stake.

The dispute over Leigh Day & Co’s £105m costs bill in the Trafigura litigation has settled before it could reach the Supreme Court, it has emerged, leaving costs specialists frustrated that the question of the date from which interest on costs runs remains unresolved.

Our latest news round-up reports on the SDT’s sanction on Andrew Crossley for letters sent to alleged file-sharers, the question of forcing out older partners reaching the Supeme Court, the SRA warning solicitors who take on PPI cases, and the latest on practising certificate renewals.

Law firms and other legal providers that offer consumers fixed fees “are likely to have a clear competitive advantage” over those that bill by the hour, new research has shown. It also forecasts that the legal market will grow this year, mainly thanks to larger law firms, with smaller ones struggling.