Latest news
HF gives staff shares as it bids to double turnover in four years
Defendant insurance law firm HF has handed employees free shares in the business as part of an ambitious growth plan that includes diversification, acquisition and maybe even a stock market listing.
Bellamy declines opportunity to back fixed costs uprating
Justice minister Lord Bellamy has refused to commit to regularly uprating the new or existing fixed recoverable costs by inflation.
SRA wins approval to destroy 765,000 files from shut-down firms
The High Court has given the Solicitors Regulation Authority permission to destroy immediately around 765,000 files it is storing after intervening in law firms in recent years.
LPA reform which ends legal executive anomaly backed by MPs
Legislation to modernise lasting powers of attorney, including allowing chartered legal executives to certify copies, sailed through its latest stage in Parliament this week.
Barrister misled court into removing child from father
A non-practising barrister whose dishonest submissions to a court caused it to order the removal of a small child from her father has been disbarred.
Barrister arrested after climbing tree to stop “unlawful” felling
An activist barrister who climbed a tree to stop it being felled after he gave advice that the action was illegal, was arrested for trespass and banned from climbing any trees in Northamptonshire.
Raab considers “cost shifting” to keep family law cases out of court
The Lord Chancellor has said he is considering “cost shifting or fees” as a means of ensuring that private law family cases are settled by mediation and not in court.
ChatGPT fails solicitor’s conveyancing test
AI chatbot ChatGPT has a “long way to go” before it replaces conveyancers, according to the head of property at a regional law firm who quizzed it about first-time buyers.
Blavo to face SDT at last over huge legal aid fraud
The boss of Blavo & Co – the major legal aid firm found by the High Court to have made fraudulent claims on public funds – will finally face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal this month.
City law firms using diversity schemes for “reputation laundering”
The efforts of City law firms to become more diverse and inclusive are a form of “reputation laundering”, offering only the “illusion of change”, an academic has argued.
Blog
From ‘year zero’ to £6.5m – how a law firm found its second life
In 2018, I hit what I call ‘year zero’. On paper, Olliers Solicitors was a top-tier criminal defence firm but beneath the surface, I could see we were at a crossroads.
Linklaters’ chief growth officer takes the ‘blank sheet’ challenge
In the third and final part of this series, Lucy Murphy, chief growth officer at magic circle firm Linklaters, outlines her vision for the law firm of the future.
The ‘blank sheet’ challenge, part 2 – what would you do differently?
In the second part of this blog series, Shainul Kassam, managing director of small London firm Fortune Law, sets out how she would set up a law firm now.
