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A south-east commercial firm has signed a memorandum of understanding with an American firm of legal consultants to meet the needs of in-house counsel without “bulking up” its own business. Its managing partner said there was a “massive gap in the market” for client-centred law firms as general counsel became increasingly frustrated with their panels.

The Legal Services Board has rejected a call from its consumer panel to consider a centralised regime of financial protection for clients to replace what the panel called the “fragmented” nature of insurance and compensation arrangements across the different legal regulators.

A lawyer has launched an artificial intelligence-backed (AI) chatbot that powers what he calls the ‘Law Firm Without Lawyers’, initially aimed at consumer and tax law but shortly to be extended to domestic violence. Ailira is short for Artificially Intelligent Legal Information Resource Assistant.

It will take around 18 months to completely separate Slater & Gordon’s Australian and UK operations, the law firm revealed this week as it told shareholders that failure to approve plans to recapitalise the business will leave it facing an “unsustainable” level of debt.

A claims management company has failed to overturn a £50,000 fine imposed by the Claims Management Regulator last summer for breaching the rules relating to third-party referrals, misleading information and keeping proper records.

The Bar Standards Board effectively killed the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) today – six years after it was meant to come into force – by saying it was pulling out to go in a different direction to assure the quality of criminal advocates. QASA was originally meant to start in December 2011.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has criticised both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and two former directors of a Preston law firm for their “careless and disrespectful approach” in applying for approval of an ‘agreed outcome’ only a day before their hearing. The pair were accused of multiple accounts rules breaches and also allowing non-solicitors to control the firm.

The lack of young barristers is now so acute that it could spell the end of a “sustainable, separate profession”, the incoming chairman of the Bar has warned. Andrew Walker QC said: “To put it bluntly, we are recruiting and retaining ever fewer new tenants, and have been for over a decade, and the Bar is steadily growing older.”

The strength of the UK’s regional legal centres has been highlighted in a report of the state of legal services by TheCityUK, which gave an overview of the sector outside the capital for the first time. The lobby group’s annual legal services report also highlighted London’s role as the leading centre globally for international arbitration.

Gordon Dadds expects to complete at least two acquisitions in the coming months, its chief executive said today on the back of strong financial figures, the first published results since the firm floated on AIM in August. Revenue increased 14.5% to £12.9m for the six months to 30 September, with operating profits up 44% to £3.5m.