Practice Management

Evidence provided to MPs by those involved in or observing the courts have outlined wide-ranging concerns about the government’s court modernisation programme.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a ruling that leading Welsh firm Hugh James did not have to pay a former client damages even though it had provided negligent advice. It is the latest in a long line of negligence cases to come out of the government’s miners’ compensation scheme.

Pioneering alternative business structure Riverview Law has launched a recruitment scheme for lawyers who want to retrain to handle commercial contract work. The first cohort of its ‘Legal Re-Train’ programme has taken in 10 solicitors from family law, personal injury, litigation, industrial disease and employment for a two-year training programme.

Ethical, moral and legal risks from the growing use of algorithms are under the spotlight as the Law Society launches a public policy commission today on the impact of new technology on the justice system. One of the commissioners, said she was particularly concerned by the use of algorithms in the sensitive areas of divorce and employment law.

Insolvencies in the legal sector are set to double this year if trends seen in the first quarter of 2018 continue, indicating a possible downturn in the fortunes of law firms, it has been claimed. The figures also indicate that law firms may be waiting too long before seeking help.

The Law Society has launched a fierce attack on the second attempt by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to reduce the indemnity insurance and compensation fund requirements for solicitors. The society opposed all the main proposals, including a new £500,000 minimum limit for compulsory indemnity cover.

The Lord Chief Justice has called the ability of computers to use big data to predict outcomes “one of the most exciting developments of the age” and forecast the technology would be used to prevent litigation and promote settlements. In the long run, he anticipated that AI would reduce the number of disputes reaching trial.

The risk of solicitors being landed with hefty VAT bills for electronic property searches has become a reality for at least one law firm, which has now received a demand from HM Revenue & Customs for tens of thousands of pounds. It has heightened the call for the tax treatment of postal and electronic searches to be made consistent.

The Ministry of Justice is at risk of freezing out a large number of vulnerable people from accessing the online court if it does not reshape its strategy for assisting the ‘digitally excluded’, according to a major study by the Civil Justice Council. Meanwhile, another report called for further research targeted at hard-to-reach groups such as the homeless and detained persons.

The Ministry of Justice’s top civil servant has told MPs that the government’s massive court reform programme will have failed if it does not carry the support of those who work in and use the courts. Meanwhile, the chief executive of HM Courts and Tribunal Service stressed that non-digital systems would remain alongside digital ones.