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Lord Chancellor Michael Gove indicated yesterday that he would support legislative changes to make it easier to approve and regulate alternative business structures while the scope of the wider review of the Legal Services Act 2007 is worked out.

A report for the Council of Europe has argued that online dispute resolution and use of IT could improve access to justice by “offering solutions to the problems of judicial inefficiency, the high cost of litigation and geographical barriers”.

Top 20 accountancy firm Kingston Smith is expanding its commercial law services, the firm’s new head of legal services has said. Meanwhile, City firm Bates Wells Braithwaite, which became an alternative business structure last year to bring in an accountant to provide non-legal services, is evolving into a firm of business advisers, its managing partner said.

Solicitors who offer ‘unbundled’ legal advice to help litigants deal with challenging parts of the process provide an “invaluable” service to both the court and litigants, the Court of Appeal said yesterday. In a ruling that gave explicit backing to unbundling, the court refused to read broader responsibilities into a limited retainer.

Real separation of representative and regulatory functions at organisations like the Law Society and Bar Council is “unfinished business” of the Legal Services Act, according to the woman who led the society’s negotiations with the government in the run-up to the Act.

There are positive signs about improving consumer satisfaction with how they find, compare and then use law firms, major research by the Legal Services Consumer Panel has revealed. However, the panel said more vulnerable consumers “are potentially being left behind as those more empowered are able to take advantage of market changes”.

A probate manager who admitting making 140 “improper withdrawals” over a period of 11 years, resulting in a client account shortage of £730,000, has been banned from working for law firms. Though he acted recklessly, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal did not find him dishonest.

The Law Society is set to review its governance structure as part of a new strategy set against a background of a legal market which it said by 2020 would see more and faster consolidation among law firms, changing employment practices and an increased number of “diverse business models”.

A firm of quantity surveyors, based in a country mansion in Warwickshire, is setting up an alternative business structure in the coach house. Solicitor Warren Berwick said clients needed a “clear distinction”.

Lawyers should use artificial intelligence to improve their work, drive efficiencies, increase accuracy and retain clients, the president of the Law Society has said. However, Jonathan Smithers said “expert intervention by lawyers” would always be needed.