Legal Services Act

The Lord Chancellor, David Lidington, has unexpectedly rejected the Legal Services Board’s recommendation that chartered accountants should be able to handle litigation, advocacy and legal instruments in taxation work. It is the first time the Ministry of Justice has rejected a regulatory extension of this nature,

Pioneering alternative business structure (ABS) Genus Law – which started life with the somewhat bolder name Brilliant Law – closed last month, with its book of business sold to fellow ABS Alpaca Law, it has emerged. Meanwhile, another groundbreaking ABS, Co-operative Legal Services, announced a rise in turnover but dip in profits for the first half of 2017.

Leading personal injury lawyers told yesterday’s PI Futures conference that there is “all to play for” on the Civil Liability Bill as a “nervous” governments seeks to avoid a damaging parliamentary defeat. Delegates were also urged to write to the Law Society to demand it take more action, and to MPs about the impact on access to justice.

NAHL plc, the marketing and services business that owns National Accident Helpline, has announced a small dip in revenue and profits for the first half of 2017. The company warned investors last year that work to reshape its personal injury offering, in light of the upcoming government reforms, would lead to a temporary dampening of cash generation and profits.

A legal comparison website has gone live with its bespoke platform with the demand for such services in flux. The relaunch of MyLegalAdviser comes in the wake of The Law Superstore being sold last month. It is the brainchild of Alex Boothman, a one-time private client solicitor.

Law firms embracing artificial intelligence are expected to create new business models to pass on the benefits to clients, research by City giant Herbert Smith Freehills has suggested. The way trainees learn about the law will also change and may reshape in the traditional pyramid shape of the large firms, it said.

Almost half of City firms view Brexit as a threat and more than two thirds see other professional services firms as the overwhelming threat among recent entrants to the profession, according to a survey published yesterday. It found that almost a quarter of City firms named Brexit as the biggest challenge to their future success.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has given strong backing to the Bar Standards Board’s proposal to reduce the standard of proof in disciplinary proceedings from the criminal to the civil standard. “[It] will be fairer on consumers, and it may act as a positive incentive for barristers to deliver good services,” the panel said.

The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has become the latest legal regulator to apply to license alternative business structures. Chartered legal executives have been able to set up their own law firms since 2015, but not if they have non-lawyer ownership or investment.

Redde, the AIM-listed accident management company that owns two law firms has recorded strong annual results, with turnover up 25% and profits increasing 16%. It also laid out how it is growing the services offered by its main firm, pioneering alternative business structure NewLaw Solicitors, into areas other than road traffic-related claims.