Legal Services Act

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 next stage of QualitySolicitors’ latest advertising campaign to persuade the public to love lawyers went live yesterday with a series of television adverts. Meanwhile, Slater & Gordon launched the latest part of its TV campaign with an advert focused on employment law.

Criminal barristers were yesterday given permission to pursue their judicial review against the Legal Services Board over the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). The legal challenge is that QASA “offends fundamental issues of justice”.

The speed and scale of change in the legal market – despite innovations such as alternative business structures – do not match its size, the founder of pioneering business Axiom has claimed. Mark Harris suggested that this was in part down to lawyers’ reluctance to fail.

Leading claims management company First4lawyers yesterday launched a £10m year-long marketing campaign with a new television commercial featuring tennis player-turned-commentator Andrew Castle.

An eviction business that was originally set up as an alternative to solicitors has now become an alternative business structure (ABS) regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to help it stand out against unregulated competition.

A website that connects individuals and small businesses with a panel of solicitors who review contracts for a fixed fee, has set up in the US and Canada and plans to expand into the rest of Europe.

Solicitors and consumer representatives have come out on opposite sides of the Legal Ombudsman’s proposal to extend its remit to the estimated 130,000 unregulated legal services providers operating in England and Wales.

A personal injury practice with offices in the north-west and midlands has become an alternative business structure (ABS) so that a top businessman can take a stake in the firm.

A law firm spin-off which helps insolvency practitioners to process financial mis-selling claims against financial institutions, has been granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence.

The co-founder of PayPal has invested in a start-up that aims to help clients find lawyers and then collaborate with them through an online platform – and is targeting the UK in the next few months – Legal Futures can reveal.

The Legal Services Board has ditched its investigation into whether giving ‘general legal advice’ should become a reserved legal activity – but hinted it may look to remove probate from the existing list.

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 legal director of the Legal Services Board disagreed with its decision to approve the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates because he wanted to ensure that the impact on judicial independence had been fully considered, it has emerged.

Neil Hudgell Solicitors, the law firm which two years ago launched the website ‘Webuyanyfiles’ targeted at personal injury firms looking to exit the market, has formed a joint venture with national practice Simpson Millar to expand the offering.