Legal Services Act

The Ministry of Justice has revived the idea of price competitive tendering for legal aid contracts – this time for court-based duty solicitor advice on housing. The proposals would cut the number of housing duty solicitor schemes by more than half, from 117 in 2015-6 to 48.

A ‘Global Britain’ summit is to be held in the spring to highlight “the vital role played by the legal services sector in underpinning our economy”, the Ministry of Justice announced today. Lord Chancellor Liz Truss also spoke out about the importance of cross-border cooperation in civil justice continuing after Brexit.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has warned that it will “reconsider whether it wishes to remain as a legal services regulator” if the government insists that regulators are fully independent from their professional bodies. The long-awaited consultation on this is said to be imminent.

Commercial law firms need to adopt a “redesigned approach to legal services”, including “paraprofessionals, technologists, information specialists, process managers and others” as well as lawyers, a major report has argued.

RSM has become the largest firm of accountants outside of the Big Four to launch a legal practice with an alternative business structure licence. The UK’s seventh largest provider of audit, tax and consulting services – which has revenues approaching £300m a year – will target mid-tier and owner-managed businesses with RSM Legal.

Leading London law firm and alternative business structure Mishcon de Reya yesterday announced the creation of an incubator for lawtech start-ups, with the founder saying it was less about investment than helping to change the firm’s culture to embrace technology.

A DIY online information service run by the law firm owned by global insurance giant Markel has been opened up to individual SME subscribers. LHS Solicitors charges £45 a year for full access to a ‘digital hub’ which has templates, factsheets, guides, and legal documents, aimed at businesses.

The recently ratified Paris Agreement on ending human-caused CO2 emissions offers “huge new opportunities” for law firms to assist with the transition to a zero-emissions economy, a report has claimed. It said firms should consider “getting in on the ground floor” with advising companies producing electric vehicles.

An AIM-listed provider of online B2B platforms – which white labels MoneySupermarket’s conveyancer search – has bought Conveyancing Alliance for an initial £7.2m as part of its strategy to become the country’s leading handler of conveyancing.

Some of the over £970m earmarked by the government for civil and criminal court reform should be used instead to stem the collapse in spending on legal aid, the Legal Action Group has suggested. It argued that the civil legal aid system was “in free fall” and the underspend in its budget over the last three years should be reinvested in an “innovation and early intervention” fund.