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Law firms are unnecessarily afraid of operating on fixed fees, and need to take a more commercial approach to how they market and price their services, according to the solicitor who created The Law Superstore. He said he had also found that firms do not monitor how much work their marketing generates.

A model of training barristers that would split the Bar professional training course into two – allowing students to learn procedure and evidence however they want before undergoing compulsory skills training – has been put forward by the Bar Council and Council of the Inns of Court as an alternative to the regulator’s plans for training reform.

National Accident Helpline is to invest £1.7m over the next year so as to accelerate changes to its operating model that will enable it to respond to the government’s proposed personal injury reforms. NAH’s profits will be hit in the short term and its share price took a significant hit as a result.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has spelt out to MPs the many risks of Brexit to the legal market – to clients, solicitors, law firms, foreign lawyers, the UK as a legal centre and the cause of liberalisation generally. The regulator said this strengthened the case for regulatory reform.

A man who tried to get a vulnerable client to loan him money – shortly after the will-writing firm he worked for became an alternative business structure – has been banned from working in the profession after it reported him to its new regulator.

Campaigning claimant law firm Thompsons has sought to open up a new front in the fight over the government’s proposed whiplash reforms by asking the Equality and Human Rights Commission to consider whether those from ethnic minorities will lose out when the insurance industry passes on any savings.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a solicitor who borrowed £125,000 from longstanding clients to bail out his failing business and failed to mention that his wife had a prior charge over the firm’s assets. He also did not insist they take independent legal advice.

Slater & Gordon has overcome the first hurdle in its bid to recover some of the money it paid for Quindell’s professional services division last year, after an independent barrister said its claim had merit. The Australian-listed firm began legal action in September.

There are “clear benefits” in the Legal Services Consumer Panel remaining part of the Legal Services Board, the panel’s chair has argued. Elisabeth Davies said the status quo allowed the LSB and the approved regulators to “access consumer insight on tap”.

A multi-disciplinary alternative business structure is offering property clients the chance to be advised by a solicitor, accountant and architect at the same time. In addition to the deal with H&C Architects, Z Group is also continuing to expand its core areas with acquisitions.