Legal Services Act

The High Court has ruled that a law firm cannot escape responsibility for handling complaints relating to a sole practice with which it merged. It said that as Kerman & Co had enjoyed the benefit and goodwill of the deal, it also had to accept the burden.

QualitySolicitors founder Craig Holt is joining online legal business LegalZoom – which claims to be the best known legal brand in America – to spearhead its UK expansion, Legal Futures has learned.

City law firms have quietly embraced innovation in the way they deliver legal services, but are going to have to face up to greater change in the coming years, the first Legal Futures Special Report has concluded.

The share price of AIM-listed alternative business structure Quindell plc tumbled 20% yesterday as the company sought to reassure investors over the details of three directors’ dealings in the shares.

London firm Hodge Jones & Allen has teamed up with a leading academic to pioneer a predictive model of case outcomes that will enable the firm to better assess the viability of its personal injury caseload.

Craig Holt, the founder of QualitySolicitors, has left the law firm network, it has been confirmed. Mr Holt founded the company in 2008 with Saleem Arif, who we understand left the business some months ago.

Quindell chairman Rob Terry and two other directors have between them spent nearly £2m in buying shares in the company, in the latest bid to boost investor confidence in the alternative business structure.

The grant of licences to alternative business structures (ABSs) should be contingent on firms agreeing to undertake pro bono work, a Liberal Democrat peer suggested last night.

The Legal Ombudsman is set to start receiving complaints about claims management complaints from 28 January 2015 – some two and a half years after the switch from the Claims Management Regulator was first mooted by the government.

The Bar Standards Board is facing a bill for over £100,000 after the Court of Appeal ruled that there was no need for it to be separately represented at the hearing of a judicial review against the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates.

City firm Kennedys has become the second largest law firm to become an alternative business structure (ABS) after being awarded a licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The firm said the licence will allow greater opportunities for growth.

Lord Judge, the former Lord Chief Justice, has warned criminal law barristers that the “old-fashioned chambers structures must be reconsidered” and they must not dismiss alternative business structures “out of hand”.

The Legal Services Board must “knock heads together” to replace the criminal burden of proof in disciplinary proceedings involving solicitors and barristers with the civil standard, the chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel has said.

The Legal Services Board has approved the introduction of restrictions that prevent large organisations from making claims on the Solicitors Compensation Fund. Claims will only be considered if they are made by individuals, small businesses, small charities or small trusts.

BT Law, the alternative business structure launched by BT in March 2013, is providing employment law services to four external clients, it has emerged.