Legal Services Act

Legal Services Board chairman David Edmonds is wrong to say there is a “disconnect” between legal education and legal practice, it was claimed last week by the man who has systematically reviewed the Bar’s education and training regime.

It is highly unlikely that the Solicitors Regulation Authority will be able to license alternative business structures on 6 October, Legal Futures can reveal. Legal Services Board chief executive Chris Kenny has admitted to us that getting the required orders through Parliament in time is looking “not impossible but very difficult”.

The practising certificate fee is set to fall by 16.7% to £350 in the coming year, it has emerged. The news comes as the Solicitors Regulation Authority should tomorrow approve provisions that will allow it to amend an alternative business structure’s turnover figure – upon which the SRA’s fees will be based – if it feels the number does not reflect the true value of the legal services provided.

There should be no general ban on referral fees, but individual frontline regulators are free to impose one for their part of the legal market if they can justify it, the Legal Services Board has concluded. It said transparency needs improving but there is little evidence of “actual or potential harm”.

In-deed, the new online conveyancing business, could use the cash it raises from an AIM listing to inject capital into its panel law firms, it has emerged. The company hopes to float next month, with a market capitalisation projected at around £9m.

The founder of property website Rightmove enters the law today with the intention of making his online conveyancing service the market leader within three years, Legal Futures can reveal. It is being marketed on the basis of service quality, rather than price.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual lawyers and staff could be inadvertently “outed” as a result of the Legal Services Board’s plans to increase diversity in the workplace, leading campaign group Stonewall has warned. The charity strongly supported monitoring the sexual orientation of staff but said the board needs to find another way of doing it.

QualitySolicitors aims to be in nearly 1,000 locations across England and Wales by the end of the year as a result of expansion and its tie-up with WH Smith, chief executive Craig Holt has said. He revealed that the retailer is receiving a flat rental fee and no referral fees.

New entrants to the legal services market after October could have a significant advantage because they arrive with a fresh approach to IT, according to a leading commentator. Charles Christian said IT is at a “tipping point” where technology currently used by law firms is about to be superceded.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is investigating a new name for both itself and those it regulates as part of plans to attract alternative business structures shopping around for a regulator. It plans to use its position as an ABS licensing authority to strengthen and grow its “regulated community”.