Practice Management

Most lawyers expect the law firm partnership model to wither over the next decade, as the legal services market embraces alternative business structures and technology, while ditching hourly billing – according to a new survey.

The High Court has thrown out a £5m fraud and conspiracy claim against a newly qualified solicitor and experienced legal executive who acted for a Docklands developer. Mr Justice Mann said the pair had suffered “years of anxiety” as a result of the claim, “culminating in a trial which they should not have had”.

Fast-growing alternative business structure Knights Professional Services has moved on from private equity funding and giving away an ownership stake, and turned to a major European lender to finance to next stage of its expansion. We revealed last month that James Caan has sold his stake in the firm.

An advert for family law services featuring the torsos of four female ballet dancers with their arms crossed over the chests with the tagline ‘Protect your assets’, was “mild innuendo” and not offensive, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled.

Lord Sumption, the outspoken Supreme Court justice, has said he regrets the “growing tendency of would-be lawyers to devote themselves to the study of law from the age of eighteen”. In an ideal world, law should only be offered as a second degree as “the study of a different subject at a formative time of one’s life” was “personally enriching”.

A finance company for law firms has announced that it wants to delist from the stock exchange as it awaits a crucial Supreme Court ruling. It is the first of two Supreme Court cases that focus on interpretation of the minimum terms and conditions for solicitors’ insurance, the second of which was before the justices yesterday.

Offering fixed fees is a sign of entrepreneurial lawyers, according to research among small firms which also found that it helps “cement a better client relationship from the start”. The research, by LexisNexis, found that those offering fixed fees were investing more in processes, technology and marketing.

There is a correlation between a company’s success in litigation and its subsequent stock market performance, legal IT company Premonition has claimed. The US-based start-up, which operates in the UK as well, operates an artificial intelligence system that mines big data to find out which litigators win.

The author of a visual map of the lawtech start-up scene said it revealed the UK has a lower number of new technology ventures relative to the size of the legal market as a whole, compared with other European countries.

In what is being hailed as a significant victory for conveyancers, a law firm and estate agency have defeated a claim brought against them after it turned out that the seller they acted for was a fraudster. The fraud only came to light when the real owner walked past his property and saw builders ripping out the kitchen.