Latest news
Paralegal banned for dishonest emails as supervisor cleared
A paralegal who lied to solicitors in one email and to a client’s relative in another has been banned – but the solicitor who supervised her exonerated.
Top offshore firm eyes new locations after taking external capital
Leading offshore law firm Walkers is eyeing geographic growth after becoming the latest to take external cash after agreeing a “strategic co-investment” into its fund and corporate services business.
Staff churn drops sharply as Knights reports positive results
Listed law firm Knights has significantly reduced staff churn, according to half-year results which showed a 30% rise in turnover to £130m, albeit most of it from acquisitions.
Billing practices and fair briefing among new Bar chair’s priorities
A campaign to improve billing practices at the Bar and work with solicitors on fair briefing are among the priorities outlined last night by the new chair of the Bar Council.
The new Mazur? ‘Solicitor agent’ does not have rights of audience
A so-called solicitor’s agent did not meet the Legal Services Act 2007 requirements for rights of audience, a district judge has ruled.
Tribunal strikes out part of barrister’s claim against BSB
A barrister’s claim that hundreds of people accessed details of a complaint about her held by the Bar Standards Board has been struck out by an employment tribunal.
Clients demanding AI chatbots to “circumvent lawyers”
Large law firms are facing “increasing demands from clients” for AI chatbots to allow them to “self-serve and circumvent the need to direct all queries through lawyers”.
Fixed costs extension “has increased deductions from damages”
The continued push for fixed costs has resulted in more deductions from clients’ damages and raises questions about whether justice is being achieved.
MoJ an international outlier with client account interest plan
Interest on Lawyers’ Client Account schemes around the world do not divert the money to general government coffers, as the Ministry of Justice is proposing, according to research.
Solicitors fined for misconduct over purchase of law firm
A woman who used a solicitor to buy a law firm while she was still a trainee, and then practised unsupervised, has been fined for misconduct.
Blog
Why upfront information could transform the home buying
The success of upfront property information will depend on more than simply making the information available.
AI risk: What law firms must now demand from vendors
AI systems ingest, transform, infer and generate. Treating them as equivalent to document storage or workflow tools is a category error.
Why mid-sized firms are the most interesting story in UK legal right now
Mid-sized law firms are facing a set of decisions about structure, technology and growth that will define where they sit in the market for the next decade.
Reports
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