Practice points

Leading black women lawyers have spoken about the challenges of succeeding in City law firms, including the problem of acquiring ‘gravitas’, and the fear of being seen as an ‘angry Black woman’.

The Bar Standards Board is to “reflect” on the duty on barristers to report harassment, with efforts to improve reporting proving ineffective, as it looks at new measures to tackle bullying and harassment.

Chambers should conduct race equality audits and, if necessary, introduce “positive action” to address the problems identified, as well as publish anti-racist statements, the BSB is set to say.

Some of the measures used by law firms to tackle a lack of gender diversity in senior roles could be “ineffective or even counter-productive”, a report has found.

The market for professional indemnity insurance is likely to continue to worsen but future premium rises should not be at the average of 17% seen this autumn, a leading broker has predicted.

A government-backed body is directing funds towards AI products that it hopes will help make the UK the world’s leading developer of high-tech innovations in legal services.

There was no implied retainer between a businessman who found himself on the wrong end of an expensive short-term loan and the law firm acting for the lender, the High Court has ruled.

Four-fifths of legal aid lawyers have experienced stress as a result of the pandemic, with more than half of them blaming longer working hours, according to a survey.

A global law firm is trialling a workflow app developed by one of its associates, who says it could save City practices up to £6m a year by making work allocation more efficient.

The Lord Chief Justice told MPs yesterday that he is “extremely concerned” that the backlogs that have grown across the justice system since March should not be “viewed by anybody as the new normal”.