Legal Services Act
Registered European lawyers to have “post-Brexit grace period”
Registered European lawyers will have a grace period until the end of next year to sort out how they will continue to practise in the UK, even if there is a no-deal Brexit, the government said last week.
Listed law firm owner sees shares reach all-time high
Shares in Anexo Group, the AIM-listed business that owns Liverpool law firm Bond Turner, reached a new high yesterday after announcing that it expected profits to exceed market expectations.
Barrister who obeyed LeO two hours before tribunal spared suspension
A barrister who complied with an order from the Legal Ombudsman to pay compensation to a client only two hours before appearing at a Bar disciplinary tribunal has been fined £2,000.
ABS conversion allows daughters to keep mother’s firm going
A trainee legal executive and her practice manager sister have taken over the law firm owned by their mother after her death, by restructuring it as an alternative business structure.
Slater & Gordon returns to profit after years of turbulence
Slater & Gordon – the first law firm owned by a hedge fund – made a small profit in its first year of independence from its one-time Australian parent, it revealed yesterday.
Law Society warns of £3.5bn hit from no-deal Brexit
The Law Society is warning that turnover from legal services would slump by £3.5bn in the event of a no-deal Brexit. It was particularly concerned about the fate of future UK lawyers.
MoJ official “confident” of hitting April 2020 deadline for PI reform
The civil servant overseeing the Civil Liability Act reforms yesterday declared his confidence that the 6 April 2020 target for implementation would be met. But he stressed that “ministers will not rush this”.
DWF hails “milestone” year with strong results – but IPO cost £12m
DWF, the world’s largest listed law firm, revealed that going public cost the business £12.6m while also slowing down its acquisition activity. Revenue for the year to 30 April grew 15% to £272m.
One in three legal consumers using online services
A third of consumers are now accessing legal services online while telephone-based services are declining, new research has found. However, the proportion shopping around is still relatively low.
High Court rejects libel claim over email sent by in-house lawyer
The High Court has rejected a libel claim by a woman who an in-house lawyer suggested in an email to a court official had potentially acted fraudulently.
Blog
From text to world: The legal significance of multimodal AI
The next phase of AI, already underway, will integrate text with vision, sound, motion and even touch. This will produce systems that no longer ‘read about’ the world but perceive it.
The new leaders of law
Where once many law firm owners remained technology sceptics, a growing number are now shaped by leaders who are digitally fluent and commercially oriented.
Managing lock-up, cash flow and billing inefficiencies better
If law firms view lock-up, cash flow and billing processes as key indicators of financial performance – and therefore risk – they can identify problems early.
