Practice Management
Crime barristers threaten unilateral action over working hours
Criminal law barristers cannot go on without “sensible parameters” for sitting hours and overnight working and will take action if the judiciary does not, the head of their representative body said yesterday.
From law student to partner in less than 12 months
A trainee chartered legal executive has spoken about how she is due to become a partner in a law firm less than 12 months after finishing her law degree.
Ex-partner loses jurisdiction challenge over City firm’s refund demand
A former partner at City firm Watson Farley & Williams has lost his High Court challenge to an arbitrator’s ruling that he must repay almost $68,000 (£52,000) to the firm.
Solicitors gear up for leasehold negligence claims
National firm Simpson Millar has set up a team within its professional negligence department to handle potential actions against solicitors who failed to warn leasehold clients of damaging clauses.
University creates ABS to fuse law degree with work experience
Sheffield Hallam University has set up a standalone law firm so it can offer a law degree that incorporates mandatory work experience into every year of the course.
“Time for quotas” to boost ranks of women partners
It is time to impose quotas on law firms for the number of women at both equity partner and management level as “years of talking” about diversity have failed to drive sufficient change.
Government pumps £6m into legal AI and analytics projects
The government has awarded grants totalling over £6.4m to 18 legal artificial intelligence and data analytics projects. The projects span the whole range of legal services, from City firms to a CAB.
Robot mediator settles first ever court case
A ‘robot mediator’ has been used to settle a dispute in the court system, for what is believed to be the first time. The online tool uses artificial intelligence algorithms in place of a human mediator.
Burnett calls for action on social diversity at top of profession
Addressing the “lack of social diversity at the top of the legal profession” is an important part of improving judicial diversity, the Lord Chief Justice declared yesterday.
Revised post-Dreamvar completion code splits conveyancers
The Law Society’s toughened up code for completion, which comes into force on 1 May and reflects last year’s Dreamvar ruling, has divided opinion among conveyancers.
Blog
Managing lock-up, cash flow and billing inefficiencies better
If law firms view lock-up, cash flow and billing processes as key indicators of financial performance – and therefore risk – they can identify problems early.
Ethical standards to protect the public
The recent BBC Panorama episode on solicitors acting for the Post Office highlighted how some lawyers can lose sight of their role to uphold the rule of law and the public interest.
Who will shape the future of UK lawtech?
The legal profession in England and Wales is broadly gender-balanced. The technology sector is not. Lawtech sits at the intersection of both.
