Practice Management
1,000% interest income rise masks profit falls at SME law firms
Interest income at small and medium-sized law firms surged by 1,000% last year, research for the Law Society has found, masking a significant fall in profits.
Four out of 10 big law firms have ‘energy-burning’ websites
More than 40% of the top 200 law firms have been awarded an ‘F’ rating (the worst) for the energy used by their websites.
Simpson Millar buys personal injury practice out of administration
National firm Simpson Millar has rescued personal injury firm Novum Law out of administration, with the funder that owns the former also a creditor of the latter.
Big firm moves away from PQE in bid for 50% female partners by 2029
National law firm TLT is “confident” that it will reach its target of having equal numbers of male and female partners in five years’ time, moving away from PQE as a metric.
“Herd instinct” of barristers can help close gender pay gap
The “herd instinct” of barristers can be used to help allocate work fairly and close the gender pay gap in the profession as a result, a chambers director has suggested.
Seven out of 10 professionals experience “discriminatory behaviour”
More than seven out of 10 professionals have experienced “discriminatory or exclusionary behaviour in the workplace” in the past five years, a major study that included lawyers has found.
Failure to engage on diversity “should feature in performance reviews”
Failure by lawyers to engage on diversity issues should be “taken into account” and have “consequences” in performance reviews, a report has recommended.
Partner caution and client demands “limiting law firm growth”
The combination of a challenging economy, partner caution about investment, and changing demands of clients will be drags on growth this year, according to a survey of large law firms.
Listed legal group raises £2.8m to reduce reliance on bank facility
AIM-listed group RBG Holdings – which encompasses London law firms Rosenblatt and Memery Crystal – raised £2.8m in funding yesterday, slightly more than it had sought.
Number of cyber breaches at law firms up by 36% in a year
The number of reported cyber breaches at UK law firms jumped by 36% in 2022/23 as hackers increasingly target the profession, new figures show.
Blog
Why law firms are getting AI supervision wrong
The profession’s response to AI supervision failures misunderstands the nature of LLM output – there needs to be for a shift in the culture.
Beyond the PII premium – rethinking risk
Professional indemnity insurance renewal is often treated as an annual pricing exercise. But it is also a chance to show how effectively you identify, manage and mitigate risk.
The AI governance gap in law firms and why it matters now
A third of law firms are already using AI tools with no formal policy in place to govern how AI gets used, what data goes into it, or who’s accountable when something goes wrong.
Reports
Associates
