Latest news

Lawyers who attract a sufficient number of positive client reviews are able to charge higher fees, the head of an online lawyer-matching service has claimed. He also said that having a single “odd-ball review” among a dozen good reviews could increase a lawyer’s standing.

A non-lawyer housing specialist has been named interim chief executive of the Law Society ahead of Catherine Dixon’s departure tomorrow. Paul Tennant has worked for various housing associations since 1982 and most recently was chief executive of Orbit Group.

Eyebrows were raised yesterday after a freedom of information request on ‘touting’ by criminal defence law firms – in which agents for rival solicitors poach potential clients even if they have representation – suggested few complaints have been made to the regulator.

City law firm Fieldfisher has created an ‘alternative legal solutions’ platform that offers financial services clients “customisable and process-efficient services, all of which go beyond the traditional law firm offering” – and at a lower cost.

The Legal Ombudsman has investigated almost 5,000 complaints about claims management companies in the two years since its jurisdiction was expanded to cover them. But it has been warned to expect a major influx of more complaints if the government’s personal injury reforms come to pass.

A solicitor, legal executive and non-lawyer consultant at a West Sussex-based law firm have been sentenced to over 14 years in prison after being found guilty of embezzling almost £700,000 of client funds over seven years. Sole principal Simon Kenny was also a deputy district judge.

There have been “frustrations” with the speed of governance reform at the Law Society, its president has admitted as he tried to calm the shock caused by the resignation earlier this month of its chief executive over that issue. But he also claimed the threat of losing its guaranteed funding was being used to “create fear” within the organisation.

The Court of Appeal has emphatically cleared a solicitor of fraud, expressing “some disquiet” at the trial judge’s findings to the contrary in an oil rig drilling case involving a $129m standby letter of credit. “Different legal minds may obviously take different views” on the legal question at the heart of the case, it said.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is planning to require law firms to publish their fees for services such as divorce, wills or conveyancing, it has emerged. In line with the recommendations of the Competition and Markets Authority, it will also look a few areas of business law, such as commercial leases.

Leading claimant personal injury solicitors recognise that the small claims limit “needs to rise” but have called on the government to increase it to £1,600, rather than £5,000, and also require road traffic accidents to be notified within a year, as part of an alternative package of reforms.