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A DIY online information service run by the law firm owned by global insurance giant Markel has been opened up to individual SME subscribers. LHS Solicitors charges £45 a year for full access to a ‘digital hub’ which has templates, factsheets, guides, and legal documents, aimed at businesses.

A north London law firm has been rebuked for misleading its client into thinking that it had made a visa application on his behalf. It is one of a series of recent disciplinary cases, including the bankrupt insolvency barrister fined for not paying over fees to his trustee in bankruptcy.

The body that appoints QCs has commissioned research to uncover barriers which deter women from applying, after they made up 27.6% of the latest batch of silks – but this was the highest proportion ever. In all, 113 of the 254 advocates who applied were successful, a success rate of 44.5%. They included six of 13 solicitor applicants.

Accountants who want to offer tax litigation and advocacy services under an expanded regulatory regime will have to employ a lawyer after the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) abandoned its attempt to train up its own members.

The government yesterday gave little indication that it was prepared to yield over its proposed reforms to personal injury, arguing that raising the small claims limit would not stop claimants using lawyers. Justice minister Sir Oliver Heald questioned whether a £40 cut in premiums should be sacrificed to uphold a 25-year-old limit that operates “in the interests of solicitors”.

Figures from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal have highlighted gaps of a year or more between some decisions by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to refer cases for prosecution and actually sending over the case papers.

The criminal division of the Court of Appeal has taken the unusual step of announcing its intention to refer a City law firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The move came after the court ordered businessman Hitendra Patel and criminal law specialists Neumans to repay interim costs of £500,000 to the Lord Chancellor at a hearing last month.

The High Court has overturned a decision by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that cleared two solicitors accused of misusing £573,000 lent to their law firm by the controversial Axiom Legal Financing Fund.

A criminal law firm has hit back at a Sunday tabloid newspaper story that quoted a senior policewoman who condemned as “idiotic” its Facebook posts identifying unmarked police cars. The firm told readers that while other firms “will promise you the earth… we’re more practical”.

Online wills start-up Farewill hopes to motivate people to make wills by attracting them with simplicity and branded design rather than extensive add-ons. The founders of property website Zoopla and short-term loans business Wonga, together with the tech investment arm of advertising agency M&C Saatchi Plc, have backed the venture.