Practice Management
Law Society to start onsite visits to check firms’ CQS compliance
The Law Society is dramatically beefing up oversight of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme by introducing onsite compliance checks and many more desk-based assessments.
Employment tribunals set for online justice pilot
The employment tribunals are set to host the pilot of an end-to-end online service through which cases would be run, the president of tribunals has revealed. Machine learning could also be introduced.
Lord Chief backs “smartphone justice” but not so keen on AI
There is no reason why litigants could not access the courts on their smartphones in future, the Lord Chief Justice said yesterday, but questioned the extent to which AI would handle judicial tasks.
Gauke hails ABSs and sector’s commitment to lawtech
The Lord Chancellor yesterday hailed the impact of alternative business structures in driving competition and fostering innovation in the legal market.
Slater & Gordon backs app offering legal advice for £24 a month
A new app that offers users the full range of consumer legal advice and support for £24 a month is to be piloted in the coming weeks ahead of a roll-out early next year.
Government invests to research how AI can improve the law
The government is to fund research into the potential for AI to improve the legal system, with a warning that, if the technology is mishandled, it could have dire consequences.
Divorce is not a “blank cheque” for litigation, judge warns
Litigation is not a “blank cheque” and divorcing people cannot behave on the basis that they are bound to be reimbursed for their costs, a leading family law judge has warned.
Labour promises Bar training overhaul as part of legal reforms
A Labour government will reform barristers’ training by putting it back in the hands of the Inns of Court and ending the “profiteering” by commercial providers, Baroness Chakrabarti has said.
Training review professors criticise “rudimentary” SQE
The four lead researchers behind the Legal Education and Training Review, which paved the way for radical changes in legal education, have criticised the Solicitors Qualifying Examination.
LCJ: Digital exclusion from online justice “a very small problem”
The Lord Chief Justice is optimistic that digital exclusion resulting from the government’s court modernisation programme will be a “very small problem”, he said yesterday.
Blog
Why later-life divorce requires a distinct professional framework
Later-life divorce, often described as ‘silver splitter’ or ‘grey divorce’ cases, is no longer a marginal feature of family law practice. It challenges long-standing assumptions about how divorce work is done.
Listening, learning and leading The Solicitor’s Charity with care
As I prepare to hand over the mantle of chair of The Solicitor’s Charity next month, it doesn’t feel like an end. Instead, it feels like a wonderful journey.
Is competition in the legal sector stifling innovation?
As the legal sector’s competitive landscape continues to evolve, Nobel laureates remind us that innovation is not inevitable,and that competition may not always be an incentive to innovate.
