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The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published a blueprint for simplifying its system for granting waivers to regulations in order to promote innovation, which it suggests will particularly benefit small firms. The new policy would guarantee no enforcement action would be taken if innovations create technical breaches of the rules.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has painted a “generally positive” picture of law firms specialising in asylum work, but uncovered serious weaknesses on referrals, fees and the handling of judicial reviews.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed yesterday that it will report on the outcome of its consultation on personal injury reform in early April, as a campaign backed by the Labour Party has highlighted the £200m that insurance companies stand to gain from the changes.

Barnet and Harrow councils in London have renewed their shared legal service, HB Public Law, a year early, preserving the alternative business structure that has the biggest local authority legal team in the country. However, Fairpoint Group plc has seen its share price crash since issuing a profits warning about its legal arm.

One of the country’s biggest independent firms of will-writers has followed the example set by law firms like Stephens Scown and Gateley and introduced employee ownership in a multi-million pound deal with its previous owners.

The status and quality of legal representation for children before the Youth Court need to be raised first by an increase in legal aid rates and then by mandatory training for all solicitors and barristers appearing for them, a government-commissioned review has recommended.

A volume conveyancing firm has apologised after sending out letters to clients asking for an additional £200 fee to “prioritise” their files in the run-up to Christmas. Meanwhile, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers is to launch a ‘secure badge’ to help the firms it regulates combat their websites being cloned.

A “vast amount” of complex and lucrative international commercial work could be lost by UK lawyers if they are denied access to the EU legal services market as a result of Brexit, the Bar Council has warned – although some lawyers would “doubtless be in high demand in the short term for new, Brexit-related work”.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people around the world will be able to report incidents of persecution to international lawyers stealthily through everyday social media, after a hackathon backed by some of the largest UK law firms devised an app.

A shared legal services between four local authorities in Norfolk is set to create an alternative business structure (ABS). Norfolk Public Law – which trades as nplaw – is choosing to add the ABS alongside its existing practice, rather than transfer everything into the new company.