Legal Services Act

All lawyers will be able to have their profiles on the Rocket Lawyer website for free from early next year, Legal Futures can reveal. Founder Charley Moore said the company’s mission is to make law more “affordable and simple” for UK businesses and consumers.

The press should look to the legal profession for reassurance that statutory underpinning of regulation does not impinge independence, the Chief Legal Ombudsman and the Law Society have said. There are also some important fundamental principles that should be behind any new regime.

Alternative business structures and external capital will intensify competition but do nothing to stimulate demand in the conveyancing market, a leading Law Society representative has said. Meanwhile, lenders have warned that they expect CQS to be more stringent.

US online legal document service Rocket Lawyer formally launches in the UK today, selling consumers and businesses annual packages starting at £40. Some 20 law firms have signed up to its ‘On Call’ panel, offering a 33% discount on their fees to users.

A Court of Appeal judge has issued a warning over the risk of external investment in law firms leading to “small, imperceptible steps” that could put business interests ahead of professional ethics.

A conveyancing business set up by a technology specialist has become the latest alternative business structure. Peter Ambrose, the owner of The Partnership, based in Guildford, Surrey, described its licence as an “endorsement”.

Nearly seven out of ten people are attracted to the idea of finding legal services on the internet and a similar number of younger adults are likely to go to supermarket providers, according to a survey.

The Office of Fair Trading has written to five legal price comparison websites to urge them to ensure they are providing clear information to consumers, after a review suggested that some sites could do more to improve trust amongst the public.

Merger and acquisition talks are rife among law firms, although there is little evidence of many making it through to a deal, new research has suggested. According to the survey by NatWest, 62% of firms had received or made approaches in the past year.

Investment by Dragon’s Den star James Caan has given the law firm Knights privileged access to clients and helped boost fee income by 20%, according to its managing partner. Meanwhile Parabis chief executive Tim Oliver has warned about the entry of the big accountants.

QualitySolicitors (QS) has admitted its campaign of attack ads on ‘faceless’ legal advice may have been premature, but defended it on the grounds that the network’s solicitors wanted the message publicised.

A new high street franchise that aims to market member law firms to “lower” demographics in thousands of branches of independent food retailers working under brands like Costcutter, Nisa and Premier Stores went live yesterday.

The impact of non-lawyer investment into law firms came to the fore today as Liverpool personal injury practice Silverbeck Rymer announced plans to create 300 jobs over the next year and so more than double in size.

Three of the best-known innovative players in legal services have revealed ambitious plans for the future, building on strategies that have seen them develop rapidly in a fast-changing market. They were speaking at this week’s Legal Futures conference.

Thousands of law firms are set to contribute £1.4m to the Legal Ombudsman after the government confirmed that they will no longer be eligible for two ‘free’ complaints every year. Meanwhile, LeO has not ruled out entertaining complaints by third parties, such as against the opposing party’s lawyer.