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DAS Law – the alternative business structure set up by the eponymous legal expenses insurer – is launching a pioneering graduate academy for “lawyers of the future”, with the first six recruits starting next month. Staff numbers at the firm have doubled to around 220 since it was created in 2013.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is planning to introduce solicitor-style indemnity insurance arrangements, in a bid to make it easier for law firms to switch regulator. Embracing an open market scheme instead of a master policy would help “make a reality” of the “theoretical” freedom of law firms to change.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers is set to launch a campaign to persuade the government to ban claims management companies from cold-calling consumers over potential claims. ‘Can the spam’ is part of the push to convince ministers that there are other ways of tackling problems in the PI industry short of the reforms it is proposing.

A solicitor convicted of failing to provide police with a breath test has been fined £2,500 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Arguing that there was no case to answer, Olufemi Olujinmi said regulation should have a “human face” and the incident should be treated as a “moment of madness”.

The government consultation on further reforms to personal injury will not be published until after the EU referendum and will be implemented in 2017, the civil justice minister indicated today as he gave no ground on the measures to be put forward.

The founder of an unregulated law firm offering advice to SMEs has said there is a “massive space” for similar companies to move into the market. Robert Taylor, founder of Business Law Online, said small businesses wanted a “much more commercial” approach.

Crowdjustice, the legal crowdfunding platform, has launched its first funding project, as opposed to a specific case, and has already raised half of the target amount needed by a legal support charity from a corporate sponsor.

Slater & Gordon saw its share price double yesterday after its banks gave the alternative business structure breathing space to turn the business around. The firm said it considered the lenders’ agreement to change the terms of its borrowing to be “a positive and clear endorsement of the company’s performance improvement program”.

Two solicitors accused of misusing £573,000 lent to their law firm by the controversial Axiom Legal Financing Fund have been cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal – in part because they relied on assurances given to them by Richard Barnett, who was subsequently struck off himself for misusing Axiom money.

More than one in five law firms have been targeted by scammers in the past year, Law Society research has revealed. Money was successfully stolen from client account in 8% of these cases. However the society’s annual indemnity survey found that average premiums paid by firms with up to 25 partners were down by 8%.