Practice Management

There is a big gap in the way partners and fee-earners at medium-sized law firms view where they work, including “an exaggerated sense of progressiveness among decision-makers”, a new report has found. Partners were far more confident than fee-earners that their firm had a “clear strategy for the future”.

Two former clients of Suffolk law firm Gotelee who were only awarded £250 in damages after a finding of negligence have failed in their bid to increase this to £100,000. The firm admitted that it negligently failed to advise the developer claimants that there was a planning restriction attached to a property they bought.

Law firms that fail to prepare for change are likely to become “no longer sustainable” beyond a “tipping point” around the year 2020, a report by accountants Deloitte has predicted. It said fewer “traditional lawyers” would be needed in the future, but there would be more sales executives, project managers and technology experts.

Eversheds and BPP University Law School have launched a six-year apprenticeship scheme leading to qualification as a solicitor. The law firm is believed to be the first to launch a scheme at this level, but its shape depends partly on the fate of the Solicitors Qualification Examination.

Responses to Lord Justice Briggs’ recommendation to create an Online Court (OC) have pitted sceptical solicitors and barristers against others who have given the scheme a more generous reception. Lawyers were worried about the impact of a change in the approach to justice represented by the OC, and the dangers of removing them from it.

A global study into a key element behind artificial intelligence (AI) and using big data in the legal sphere has received the green light and €1.2m of European funding. Meanwhile, in a related development, Deloitte, has undertaken what is thought to be the world’s largest deployment so far of AI in contract analysis.

The first trial of online dispute resolution (ODR) in the UK’s courts and tribunals will introduce a concept known as the “online continuous hearing”, it has emerged, with the Senior President of Tribunals urging a change in perception of litigation from an adversarial dispute to “a problem to be solved”.

Software or data analysis techniques that could help flag up fraudulent legal aid claims or predict the likelihood of someone re-offending are outcomes the Ministry of Justice is hoping could come from a hackathon it will hold later this month.

Pekama, a legal tech company with investment from law firm Taylor Vinters, has launched a mobile app which it believes will trigger a “big change” in the way lawyers communicate. Zeev Fisher, the chief executive of Pekama and a solicitor, said the app had been tested by three law firms.

NAHL Group – the business that owns the National Accident Helpline – has accelerated its march into conveyancing with the launch of a legal comparison site. The Solicitor Finder is initially focused on the residential property sector but will be expanded into other sectors in due course.