Other lawyers

The frontline regulators need lay chairs at the helm so as to cut the “overly strong ties” that still exist with their branches of the profession and have held back change, the Legal Services Board said yesterday. The call was met by strong opposition.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is to continue its bid to regulate the conduct of litigation but will focus on property-related litigation, it has announced. Meanwhile, the regulator is to farm out its role as an education provider because of a “clear conflict”.

A Manchester law firm has launched a joint venture alternative business structure (ABS) with one of its major insurer clients. Meanwhile, the transitional exemption from ABS licensing currently afforded to not-for-profit organisations has been extended indefinitely.

The Law Society’s conveyancing quality scheme and lender-specific requirements amount to double regulation of lawyers and there needs to be a sector-wide effort to resolve the problem, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has urged.

Citizens Advice has hit out at claims management companies for cold-calling and the way they then handle payment protection insurance mis-selling cases. Two-thirds of adults – equivalent to 32m people in the UK – say they have been cold-called over PPI, its research claims.

The Legal Services Board has backed improvements to the transparency of referral fees paid by licensed conveyancers following a review that found absolutely no justification for a ban.

The turnover of claims management companies spiralled 31% last year to top £1bn, with the turnover for the financial claims sector exceeding that of personal injury companies for the first time, Ministry of Justice figures have shown.

The shareholders of online conveyancing business In-Deed – the first listed company to buy a law firm – have approved the plan to dispose of the practice and the rest of its business. Nonetheless, the failure of In-Deed paves the way for “further necessary disruption in the conveyancing market”, it has been claimed.

Members of the Institute of Professional Willwriters who fail to comply with its code of practice face fines or even imprisonment, as a new UK-wide scheme to strengthen self-regulation by setting standards for such codes goes live.

In-deed Online plc – the first listed company to buy a law firm – is now set to become the first alternative business structure (ABS) casualty after announcing plans to sell the practice back to one of its founders along with the rest of the online conveyancing company’s business.

A ban on referral fees in conveyancing is unjustifiable, according to a narrow majority of respondents to a Council for Licensed Conveyancers consultation – but there was strong support for enhanced disclosure requirements.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has confirmed it will again attempt to extend the scope of services it regulates later this year and fired the opening shot of a campaign to issue licenses to individuals who are not conveyancers.

All legal services providers should undertake and publish equal pay audits, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has suggested – this would ideally be voluntary, “but only if it results in the changes needed”. It came in an LSB review of the evidence on equal pay.

A training regime whose only specification is what a newly-qualified lawyer should be able to offer on day one is the kind of deregulation the Legal Education and Training Review should be considering, according to the chief executive of the Legal Services Board.

The Law Society will challenge the application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to become an alternative business structure regulator, Legal Futures can report. The question of separating regulation and representation is a key bone of contention.