Legal Services Act

Law firms of the future are likely to succeed by integrating non-lawyer specialists, such as project managers, into their businesses and collaborating with technology companies, it has been predicted. The profession also needs to train “ethically minded legal professionals who are equipped to keep modernising how they deliver legal services”.

Lawyers are still failing in their regulatory duty to tell clients about the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), its research has found. When asked how they first heard about the scheme, only 20% of 3,680 consumers who had been in contact with the LeO said it was from their lawyer.

The traditional law firm partnership structure is still dominant in the profession but the arrival of alternative business structures has disrupted the status quo and may eventually become the norm in high-volume legal services, according to research.

Freeing up the rules on licensing alternative business structures will help the Solicitors Regulation Authority deal with more complex applications, such as those from businesses that form part of a group or have private equity investment, it has told the government.

The High Court has rejected a solicitor’s appeal against a Legal Ombudsman order that he refund £34,000 of his £37,000 fee to a client he signed up to a contingency fee agreement. The ombudsman said the client had not been properly advised about the terms and effects of the agreement.

The Legal Ombudsman has exercised its “public interest” power under the Legal Services Act to name a claims management company responsible for a series of complaints. It is only the second time that the LeO’s board – the Office for Legal Complaints – has used the power.

The Law Society has backed government proposals to remove restrictions on alternative business structures (ABSs) so as to encourage more to enter the market, but also recommended caution before declaring that they have increased competition and are no more risky than traditional law firms.

Research into the growing trend of law firms switching regulator has begun so as to assess any risks for consumers and whether there may be unintended consequences. The Legal Services Board is undertaking the work and will look, among other things, at the extent to which new regulators check and use a lawyer or firm’s previous regulatory history.

The High Court has issued a two-year civil restraint order against a barrister who has repeatedly and unsuccessfully challenged disciplinary findings made against him. The judge said he approached the task “with something of a heavy heart” given that it involved a member of the Bar.

A lawyer-matching platform has answered the growing clamour for charging transparency with a price index based on its database of 15,000 quotes, broken down into detailed categories of commercial work. The move should give clients an idea of average fees at market rates.