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The Ministry of Justice has revived the idea of price competitive tendering for legal aid contracts – this time for court-based duty solicitor advice on housing. The proposals would cut the number of housing duty solicitor schemes by more than half, from 117 in 2015-6 to 48.

Some 31,000 jobs at law firms and other businesses in the personal injury (PI) sector are at ‘high risk’ of being lost if the government presses ahead with its reform agenda, according to an economics consultancy commissioned by the pressure group, Access 2 Justice.

The president of the Law Society and chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have clashed in public over the latter’s controversial proposal to allow solicitors to practise from unauthorised businesses. They also sniped at each other over the independence of the SRA.

An artificial intelligence (AI) lawtech start-up which claims its product can predict how courts will rule in tax cases with 90% accuracy, in on course to expand into this country. The Canadian company hopes to exploit the similarity of the tax systems in Canada and England and Wales.

A solicitor who applied to vary a condition on his practising certificate made when a disciplinary tribunal suspended a five-year suspension from practice, now instead faces the possibility of having the ban activated after it emerged during his application that he had breached the condition.

The Bar will “truly be able to say that barristers are better educated in the law than solicitors” if the Solicitors Regulation Authority presses ahead with its reform of education, law lecturers have said in an excoriating response to the regulator’s consultation.

The judiciary has weighed into the debate about raising the small claims limit for personal injury by expressing “serious dismay” about the lack of consultation with judges and warning the government that any savings are likely to be outweighed by the significant extra burden litigants in person will put on the small claims court.

A ‘Global Britain’ summit is to be held in the spring to highlight “the vital role played by the legal services sector in underpinning our economy”, the Ministry of Justice announced today. Lord Chancellor Liz Truss also spoke out about the importance of cross-border cooperation in civil justice continuing after Brexit.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has thrown out charges against a solicitor for Rupert Murdoch’s News International accused of unreasonably advising and commissioning surveillance of two high-profile lawyers bringing phone hacking cases.

A web-based service which uses artificial intelligence (AI) rather than lawyers to give business clients crucial information about their contracts – and already works with Deliveroo – has secured a second round of funding from high-profile investors.