Latest news
Major report: Law’s culture has to change to tackle wellbeing crisis
The “organisational culture” of the legal profession needs to change to tackle the ongoing problems of mental ill-health, bullying and harassment, major new research has found.
Giving evidence “not a game”, judge tells expert witness
An expert witness has apologised to the High Court after being told by a judge not to treat giving evidence in court “as a game”.
Labour MPs attack cost of qualifying as a lawyer
The publicly funded side of the legal profession is “losing a talent pool of bright, young lawyers” to big City law firms because of their debt burdens, the shadow solicitor-general warned yesterday.
Research: “Billions could be saved” by funding more legal advice
The Treasury could save billions of pounds a year if more public money is put into specialist legal advice, according to new research.
Treasury rejects SRA and Law Society pleas over economic crime levy
The government has rejected a call from the Solicitors Regulation Authority that small law firms should have to pay its new economic crime levy.
Ashurst elevates ‘New Law’ tech roles to careers alongside lawyers
The ‘New Law’ arm of City firm Ashurst has created a formal career pathway for legal technology specialists to run in parallel with the traditional roles available to lawyers.
“Positive action scheme” bids to improve diversity of Treasury Counsel
A “positive action scheme” for advocates who have the potential to become Treasury Counsel in the future – aimed to address a lack of diversity in their ranks – is to be launched next month.
SRA launches investigations into 10% of firms checked for AML compliance
More than 10% of law firms whose compliance with anti-money laundering rules was checked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the last year have been referred for investigation
Clerks “must play bigger role in fair work allocation”
Barristers’ clerks must step up and ensure that both work coming in and marketing efforts by chambers are done with an eye to equality in the way they are distributed, a seminar heard this week.
Listed law firm bosses continue to cash in
Senior staff at listed firm Keystone Law have sold £7m worth of shares in the last week as we look at the paper value of the main shareholders of various listed law firms.
Blog
Recruitment, retention and reward in the legal accounts world
Understanding the legal finance market is important – not just for those actively involved in it day-to-day but also for leaders within law firms.
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.
