Latest news
Lawyer “under new duty” to have functional understanding of AI
Lawyers have a new duty to have a “competent functional understanding” of artificial intelligence as its use spreads across the profession, a specialist has argued.
PE-backed firm eyes ‘hub and spoke’ consolidation strategy
The private equity house that acquired Midlands firm Higgs last week is to adopt a different approach to its competitors in pursuing a ‘buy and build’ strategy.
Associate who billed 23 hours in a day struck off
A senior associate at national firm Irwin Mitchell who recorded 23 hours of chargeable time in one day has been struck off for submitting dishonest timesheets.
Court of Appeal ruling gives renewed hope for data breach claims
The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision that appeared to limit the rights of data breach victims to bring claims.
Will writer’s failures help convince judge to find undue influence
Failures by a will-writing company were among circumstantial evidence that led a High Court master to decide a will was made under undue influence.
SRA uncovers significant shortcomings among volume claims firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has uncovered a significant amount of poor practice in the way law firms are managing high-volume consumer claims.
Black Country law firm becomes latest to take private equity
Black Country-based Higgs has become the latest law firm to take private equity funding after striking a deal with August Equity – which first expressed an interest in the legal market 13 years ago.
PE-backed business recovery firm aims to double size of legal arm
Leonard Curtis has announced ambitions to double the size of its law firm after Pollen Street Capital took a majority stake in the restructuring and turnaround business.
Personal injury lawyers “need guidance” on transgender claims
Personal injury lawyers need guidance on transgender claimant compensation following this year’s Supreme Court ruling to avoid possible negligence claims, it was argued this week.
LSB “must force” Legal Ombudsman to publish decisions in full
The Legal Services Board must take “a more proactive stance” in making the Legal Ombudsman publish complaint outcomes in full, the Legal Services Consumer Panel has argued.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
