Practice Management
Paralegal unfairly dismissed by firm awarded £105,000 damages
A paralegal at a London law firm who was unfairly dismissed – leaving her dreams of becoming a solicitor in tatters – has been awarded damages of more than £100,000.
AI “could help allocate work to conveyancers”
Artificial intelligence is being developed for “triage and work allocation” in law firms and particularly for conveyancing, a director of the SRA has said.
Legal software providers preventing firms from integrating systems
Providers of legal software are stopping law firms from integrating their systems by failing to provide the APIs they need to do it, a panel discussion has heard.
Dorset, Manchester and London see latest law firm mergers
Law firm merger and acquisition activity is continuing with deals in Dorset, Manchester and London, including a leading commercial firm establishing an employment practice.
Law firm marketing does not convey their expertise well, say bosses
The heads of large law firms do not feel their marketing communications portray their expertise very well but are still putting marketing chiefs on the boards, according to new research.
“Favourable” PII market expected to continue throughout 2024
The current “favourable” professional indemnity insurance market is expected to continue throughout the rest of 2024, according to a leading broker.
AI will have bigger impact on law than the internet, says thinktank
Artificial intelligence will have a greater impact on legal services than the internet revolution, a roundtable sponsored by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has predicted.
Law firms facing “astronomical ransom demands” from cyber-attackers
The legal sector has faced “astronomical ransom demands” from cyber-attackers in recent years, ranging from $30,000 to $21m, according to new research.
First law firm obtains specialist legal services ICO certification
A leading law firm has become the first to obtain the new legal services-specific data protection certification approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Medical negligence specialist firm becomes employee-owned
A law firm specialising in medical negligence has embraced employee ownership, giving the staff a “less risky future” at a time of uncertainty in the sector.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
