Latest news
City lawyers “privately regulated by clients”
A “tranche” of top commercial lawyers “has effectively become privately regulated by the clients they seek to serve”, a leading academic has said. Dr Steven Vaughan said some were “happy to be captured” by clients.
LeO to spend less on complaints about law firms and more on CMCs
The Legal Ombudsman has set out plans for further cuts in the amount it spends on complaints about law firms, but more on claims management companies. LeO also warned that the Ministry of Justice was imposing “increasingly restrictive spending controls”.
City solicitor accepts fine from SRA over assault conviction
A City law firm partner has been fined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority after an assault conviction for a “domestic incident”. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, but retains the support of his firm.
No plans to monitor whether insurers pass on whiplash savings, says government
The government will not be monitoring insurance companies to ensure that they pass on to policyholders the savings they make from its planned personal injury reforms, a minister has admitted. Just after Christmas, the government announced that leading insurers have committed to giving customers 100% of the savings.
Case-tracking app will enable us to become biggest conveyancers, new ABS says
An ambitious new firm of licensed conveyancers has developed its own case-tracking app in a bid to become the biggest conveyancing business in the country. Managing director Simon Bath said the firm had funding from individual investors and private equity.
Confusion the biggest threat to new competence regime, survey suggests
Confusion among solicitors is the biggest challenge to the hours-free competence regime introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a survey has suggested. The second biggest challenge was that “solicitors think they won’t have to do any training”.
Competiton and Markets Authority to investigate legal services
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced a study of the legal services sector for consumers and small businesses so as to examine “long-standing concerns” about affordability and standards of service. The CMA said concerns had also been raised about the “complexity of the current regulatory framework”.
‘Hacking’ the law – computer programmers called in to aid advice centres
A ground-breaking legal ‘hackathon’ – pitting computer programmers against each other to reach the best solution to a legal technology problem in the space of a weekend – is to be held in London with the aim of generating technology that will assist law centres.
Firms urged to get “cute” to find a marketing edge
Law firms need to become “cuter” in their marketing as the ever increasing competition for work – particularly online – means that even recently established ways of operating are delivering diminishing returns, it has been claimed.
Briggs lays out vision for lawyer-free online courts
Lord Justice Briggs has set out radical plans to create an online court, which could become the compulsory starting point for money claims worth up to £25,000, and which would be designed “for use by litigants without lawyers”.
Blog
Accountability has to live within governance, not with one person
The assumption has long been that a COLP or COFA is personally exposed to the consequences of anti-money laundering breaches.
The SRA’s client money reforms: good intentions, questionable execution
On the face of it, the SRA’s plans to tighten protections around client money sounds sensible. The detail, as ever, tells a more complicated story.
Recruitment, retention and reward in the legal accounts world
Understanding the legal finance market is important – not just for those actively involved in it day-to-day but also for leaders within law firms.
