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The independent Low Commission, which has produced a series of influential reports on the future of social welfare law, is to “start a process of winding up”, its chairman has announced. Lord Low said funding was “increasingly hard to secure”.

Taylor Vinters will this week implement artificial intelligence contract review software developed by a law tech company that the law firm has invested in. Last month another tech investment by the firm, Pekama, launched a mobile app

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has ditched plans to examine what it could do to enhance consumer protection for those who use unregulated providers, it revealed yesterday. The result of the consultation on its draft business plan also revealed a significant cut in the LSB’s research spend, delivering an extra £150,000 reduction in its overall 2016/17 budget.

A DIY legal guidance and forms website set up by two Korean solicitors and aimed at overseas SMEs and start-ups setting up businesses in the UK, is to launch later this year. LawXero is an unregulated platform which styles itself as “a flexible online legal information and guidance station for smart businesses looking to establish a UK presence”.

A group of public access barristers have formed a partnership with a debt solutions company to provide debtors with fixed-fee court representation that they could otherwise not afford. The co-founder of Debt Rescue Solutions said its clients faced a “total inequality of arms” when representing themselves.

The Bar Standards Board is to investigate whether male barristers with new-born children should be entitled to a form of shared parental leave, with the Bar Council calling for provisions which would give them a rent rebate from their chambers while not working.

A solicitor who pretended to be carrying out litigation, providing email updates on a case which did not exist, has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The tribunal said Stephanie Berry argued that her cognitive abilities had been impaired, but provided no evidence.

Three months after announcing that it was referring Leigh Day to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has still not filed the papers, Legal Futures can reveal. The firm is at the centre of a political controversy over its conduct in the Al-Sweady inquiry.

There is a “disturbing level of tunnel vision” among law firms when it comes to adopting modern customer service standards, which could ultimately make the difference between success and failure, according to a report published today. It said that in an ever competitive market, law firms that are not thriving may only have a brief chance to turn things around before it is too late.

Eliminating lawyers from the dispute resolution process should not be one of the aims of the online court (OC), the group that first proposed it has told Lord Justice Briggs. At the same time, it said the OC should be seen as paving the way for a court service that is “a blend of online service and conventional courtroom activity”.