Latest news
Irwin Mitchell targets Scotland with major acquisition
National giant Irwin Mitchell has unveiled a major expansion of its Scottish practice by acquiring five-office firm Wright Johnston & Mackenzie.
Surge in legal businesses embedding social purpose as B Corps
There has been a surge in legal businesses becoming B Corporations, the movement which aims to balance profit with purpose, with Obelisk Support and the London Law Collective the most recent.
“Catalogue of mistakes” – STEP makes case for will-writing regulation
Nearly half of consumers who have a will either wrote their own or obtained it through a cheap online service, with hardly any checking the credentials of the provider.
Government set to resist calls for ban on NDAs in the workplace
The government indicated this week that it would resist calls for a statutory ban on non-disclosure agreements in the workplace, having been told that lawyers “are part of the problem”.
Solicitor who “failed to disclose existence of clients” struck off
A solicitor who told clients to pay fees into his personal bank account, in some cases for work that was never done, has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
Law Society and SRA win approval for 11.5% jump in cost of practising
Individual solicitors and their firms will be paying an extra £13.2m to be regulated and represented in the coming year, the Legal Services Board has confirmed.
Partner who lied to clinical negligence victim’s mother struck off
A partner lied to the litigation friend and mother of a medical negligence victim, telling her repeatedly over two and a half years that a pre-action protocol letter had been sent when it had not.
SRA issues hefty fine for solicitor who ignored conflict between clients
A solicitor who acted for both sides in the transfer of five properties for nil value has been hit with a £12,000 fine by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Only one of 1,200 global legaltech patent applications filed in UK
Nearly 1,200 legaltech patent applications were filed around the world last year but only one by a company based in the UK, researchers have found.
Solicitor to face tribunal over “threatening” Covid letters to GPs
A solicitor is set to face a disciplinary tribunal for aggressively threatening GPs with legal action if the doctor did not provide a Covid vaccination exemption for their client.
Blog
The profession can play a greater role in improving access to justice
In this, the third blog of my series, I focus on what lawyers in the UK can do to improve access to justice through greater professional stewardship.
Does AI work for conveyancers? We asked those on the front line
What is the view on AI from conveyancers themselves? Based on a Dye & Durham’s roundtable discussion on AI, the answer is: it depends.
Is the legal profession ready for agentic AI?
An AI agent is difficult to supervise. By design, it works in the background. It means a solicitor can be held responsible for work they had no real means to oversee.
Reports
Associates
