Legal Services Act

The co-founder of PayPal has invested in a start-up that aims to help clients find lawyers and then collaborate with them through an online platform – and is targeting the UK in the next few months – Legal Futures can reveal.

The Legal Services Board has ditched its investigation into whether giving ‘general legal advice’ should become a reserved legal activity – but hinted it may look to remove probate from the existing list.

A Manchester law firm has launched a joint venture alternative business structure (ABS) with one of its major insurer clients. Meanwhile, the transitional exemption from ABS licensing currently afforded to not-for-profit organisations has been extended indefinitely.

The legal director of the Legal Services Board disagreed with its decision to approve the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates because he wanted to ensure that the impact on judicial independence had been fully considered, it has emerged.

Neil Hudgell Solicitors, the law firm which two years ago launched the website ‘Webuyanyfiles’ targeted at personal injury firms looking to exit the market, has formed a joint venture with national practice Simpson Millar to expand the offering.

Liverpool law firm Camps has launched a new consumer brand – Your Legal Friend – as part of its “multi-channel” response to the personal injury market. It said the launch follows research to ensure the brand reflects both what the company stands for and delivers what its customers most value.

Brilliant Law, the alternative business structure that was set up with investment from BetFair founder Bert Black, has just received a further seven-figure cash injection. One of the new investors, lawyer turned investment banker Jag Mundi, has also joined as a non-executive director.

The Legal Ombudsman is to begin work on what types of complaints it should accept from non-clients amid reports of lawyers harassing third parties over alleged debts, violating their privacy and doling out abusive treatment in court.

Tooks Chambers – the civil liberties set led by campaigning QC Michael Mansfield – has today announced that it has begun the process of dissolution as a “direct result of the government’s policies on legal aid”.

The trust that solicitors engender among their clients should be leveraged, with other services operating under legal professionals’ banner within alternative business structures, according to the head of one of the newest ABSs.