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The latest ‘man versus machine’ contest, which pitted human lawyers against artificial intelligence technology, has shown the machine to be superior in both accuracy and speed. But the best-performing lawyers exceeded even the AI, although it was claimed that they did so in unnatural circumstances for a busy lawyer.

The Bar Standards Board has backtracked on many of the elements of its plan to force barristers to publish prices and service information – most notably by suggesting that instead of putting hourly rates on their websites, chambers should simply have to tell potential clients to contact them for a quote.

An experienced private client lawyer who forged a grant of probate has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. He was acting for the estate of a woman who had lacked mental capacity and had two disabled sons living in care.

A Kent law firm was negligent for failing to advise properly on a mortgage and valuation report, but this did not cause a couple in Canterbury to buy a house suffering from subsidence, a circuit judge has ruled. He said it was not the firm’s duty to “advise about structural matters when there was a structural survey available”.

It is “beyond argument” that a solicitor sentenced to any substantial term of imprisonment should be struck off, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division said yesterday as the High Court increased an indefinite suspension imposed on a former senior Crown prosecutor convicted of the attempted murder of his wife to a strike-off.

Law firm consolidator Metamorph Law has unveiled its first acquisition of 2018 with a deal to buy leading Shropshire general practice Terry Jones Solicitors, which has a turnover of around £5m. Following four acquisitions last year, Metamorph said this latest addition meant it was looking to generate a fee income in excess of £23m in 2018.

If the Legal Services Board is serious about promoting access to justice it must end its silence on the legal aid cuts, lawyers’ organisations have said. The Bar Council accused the oversight regulator of acting like “another department of government” by refusing to comment.

A partner in a South Yorkshire law firm who failed to disclose on the financial statement for his own divorce proceedings ownership of a second property has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. He falsely stated that the proceeds of sale of the building had been invested in a failed property venture.

High street solicitors are losing out to specialist conveyancing businesses in capturing clients, new research has shown, but all lawyers still have much to improve on client communication. More than a third of clients would even consider paying more for a premium service, it found.

The Law Society and the Criminal Bar Association are discussing the possibility of a new career path for criminal lawyers involving both defence and prosecution work, it has emerged, after the CBA chair warned of the “decimation” of both the criminal Bar and the solicitors’ profession if no action was taken to tackle an “unprecedented recruitment crisis”.