Legal Services Act

Only a third of law firms are telling clients who make a complaint that they can refer it to the Legal Ombudsman if they are not satisfied with the outcome, research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found. The report also revealed limited support among firms for the compulsory publication of first-tier complaints data.

National law firm Simpson Millar is set to make at least 20% of its workforce redundant as part of a restructuring that follows its listed parent company going into administration earlier this year. The firm said the changes were designed “to put in place a sustainable cost base following substantial under-investment under the ownership of Fairpoint Group PLC”.

A law firm has relaunched itself as a multi-disciplinary alternative business structure, offering corporate clients legal, accountancy, and business advisory services, with human resources advice set to follow. Its head said being able to offer SMEs more than legal services was a “unique selling point” in a crowded legal marketplace.

Efficiency innovations implemented by in-house counsel at just five big companies – such as artificially intelligent (AI) contract review – have brought annual savings totalling more than half a million hours of lawyer time, according to new guide. Similar savings were being made by legal departments in thousands of other companies globally, it said, driving change in law firms that have traditionally relied on the work.

One of the two paralegal bodies which developed the Professional Paralegal Register (PPR) to act as a voluntary regulator for the sector, has decided to pull out after only two years, it has emerged. The National Association of Licensed Paralegals withdrew this summer, citing “irreconcilable differences” over the values and purpose of the PPR.

Slater & Gordon is set to avoid insolvency after nearly 70% of shareholders approved a recapitalisation plan which will see its senior lenders – led by American hedge fund Anchorage Capital – take control in a debt-for-equity deal.

The Legal Services Board is to launch a project to investigate the regulatory implications of the latest technology, including artificial intelligence. It has also promised to be “an agent of change” for the legal services sector, encourage innovation by identifying measures to remove barriers to entry to the legal market and also stimulate competition.

A greater focus on specialist sectors is seen by senior managers as the biggest opportunity for law firms over the next two to three years, a survey has found. It comes at a time when firms believe that competitive pressures have increased but almost all are confident about the future.

The government yesterday damped down hopes that it would consider funding greater access to early legal advice. Support for a restore legal aid for early advice has been growing, with justice committee chairman Bob Neill MP and Supreme Court president Baroness Hale among those to talk up its benefits.

Before-the-event legal expenses insurance has “a considerable role in improving access to justice in the current legal landscape”, with the advice helplines that come with them of particular benefit, a major report has found.