News

Solicitors, law firms and would-be alternative business structures today get first sight of the new SRA Handbook, the 563-page guide to practising and running a legal practice. The Handbook – delivered on schedule and exactly six months before it is due to come into force – introduces the profession to outcomes-focused regulation.

The American Bar Association tonight floated the prospect of allowing limited forms of alternative business structures in the US. However, it has ruled out passive non-lawyer investment, laying out options which only involve non-lawyers actively contributing to a practice.

A memorandum of understanding between legal regulators and regulators and professional bodies in the financial, accountancy and property worlds whose members may be part of multi-disciplinary practices is close to agreement, it has emerged.

The Legal Services Board is to launch an assessment of the regulation of immigration advice and services after taking over responsibility for overseeing frontline regulators in the field. The move will save the profession £110,000 in direct costs.

A network that aims to help law firms dominate their local market and guarantees that it will increase their income has gone live. Seven law firms have so far signed up to GetSolicitors, which is billing itself as an alternative to national, branded networks by giving solicitors the tools to market and build their own brands.

The number of law firms in England and Wales has continued its inexorable rise, with 25% more in practice than a decade before, new figures have revealed. The Law Society’s annual statistical report also shows the impact of the recession on the largest City practices.

A Yorkshire firm of solicitors has launched a menu pricing litigation product under which it will shoulder the risk of costs overruns, giving clients budgeting certainty as an alternative to conditional fee agreements. The move is an early example of litigation specialists positioning themselves for a post-Jackson, post-recoverability of costs landscape.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is weighing up whether evidence that the underwriting criteria used by professional indemnity insurers disproportionately affects black and minority ethnic solicitors amounts to unlawful discrimination, Legal Futures has discovered.

Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) continues to grow strongly, with income up nearly 20% in 2010, the Co-operative Group’s annual results have shown. Meanwhile, a spokesman has confirmed that CLS will apply for an alternative business structure licence at the earliest opportunity.

The board of the Legal Ombudsman has put off until spring 2012 the decision on whether to name law firms on the receiving end of complaints, a move condemned by the Legal Services Consumer Panel.