Practice Management

An increase in the number of callers to mental health charity LawCare is a sign of “greater awareness”, its chief executive has said. Workplace stress was cited as the main reason for contacting to LawCare by 27% of callers, followed by depression (17%), disciplinary concerns (8%) and anxiety (7%).

A Nigerian-born former administrative assistant at leading national firm Shoosmiths has been awarded damages for harassment after another member of staff standing by her desk said that “struggling immigrants should go back to their country”. But her other claims of discrimination and victimisation were rejected.

The ex-managing partner of a well-known law firm has won the right to sue his former firm for £3.4m under whistleblowing law. Andrew Roberts claims that he was constructively dismissed by the other partners of Salisbury practice Wilsons.

A lead generation website and connected mobile app designed to put younger consumers of legal services in touch with solicitors between appointments by tapping directly into their electronic diaries, will launch later this year.

An employment tribunal has rejected claims of race and sex discrimination by a former equity partner of leading City firm Simmons & Simmons because the events complained of took place in Paris and so outside of its jurisdiction.

The courts service is already seeing benefits from the early stages of the digital delivery of justice, it said yesterday as it outlined its plans for further rationalisation of the physical court estate. The proposals included the potential closure of eight courts, including Blackfriars Crown Court, which was meant to be one of venues for the flexible operating hours pilot.

There is a worrying “disconnect” between the factors that law firms consider most important in driving growth of their firms and the way their lawyers are paid, a report has found. The report found that firms were “telling their staff that client satisfaction and recovery rates are important, but will have no bearing on the staff’s remuneration”.

The Law Society is to launch a new ‘quality and standards in education’ committee, after a year in which its training arrangements have come under sustained pressure. It is also investigating whether to reintroduce student membership and has issued guidance on when law firms should tell trainees whether they have a job post admission.

The Law Society has been forced to withdraw from an exclusive deal to endorse a training partner for the qualified lawyers transfer scheme (QLTS) after facing a judicial review from another provider, in the latest major stumble by the body that represents solicitors.

The government is to ensure that leaseholders know how to sue their conveyancer where they may have been negligent over escalating ground rents, it has revealed. It is one of several new measures to cut out unfair and abusive practices within the leasehold system, announced just before Christmas.