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All of the 3,000 law firms accredited under the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme need to ensure they are not using in their own marketing the society’s description of the scheme that was yesterday ruled to be misleading, it has emerged.

Two partners in a Cheshire law firm have been fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for their part in a failed ‘rare earth metal’ investment scheme. The firm processed transactions worth almost £2m for a company, based in Hong Kong, on behalf of a local businessman.

A third of the top 300 UK law firms will have disappeared by 2022, a law firm finance expert predicted at yesterday’s Legal Futures Innovation Conference. John Llewellyn-Lloyd, who advised London firm Gordon Dadds on its recent flotation, said that by then there would also be at least 10 listed law firms, with a combined capitalisation of £2bn.

Law Society advertising of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme “misleadingly exaggerated the membership requirements” to make it sound like the accreditation process is more rigorous than is actually the case, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled.

Unconscious bias in legal businesses is hampering their success, inhibiting a diverse and inclusive sector, and damaging the experience of women and minorities in the workplace, according to a report. Law firms need to train senior personnel to recognise their prejudices and introduce ‘disruptors’ – such as transparent work allocation practices – to prevent it.

Pioneering alternative business structure (ABS) rradar has become the first law firm to be selected for the London Stock Exchange ELITE programme, which helps innovative new companies grow. Gary Gallen, chief executive of rradar, told Legal Futures that listing was “certainly something we’re looking at”, and being part of the programme would give the firm “all the tools and skills you need to do that effectively”.

Two men who were part of an organised fraud network that conned solicitors and others out of over £300,000, as well as a man who tried to blackmail a law firm to pay over €10,000 for the return of data stolen from its systems, have been sent to prison.

City law firm Kennedys has called in artificial intelligence (AI) experts at Manchester University to help develop a new product to combat insurance fraud. The two-year project, co-funded by the government agency Innovate UK, will involve academics develop a new system based on the law firm’s databases.

A leading family law solicitor’s meeting with a potential client was for the purpose of conflicting him out of acting for the other side, the High Court has said as it rejected an application to stop him from doing just that. It said Raymond Tooth – famously nicknamed ‘Jaws’ – did not receive confidential or privileged information.

The more law firms find out about the planned Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), the less positive about it they become, expecting that they will have to top up the knowledge acquired under the new route to qualification, research has found. The poll also found widespread ignorance of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s planned overhaul of training.