Legal Services Act

What is possibly the first ever automated brief to counsel has been claimed by unique online legal service Road Traffic Representation. Claire Burtwistle, a barrister at Old Bailey Chambers in London, was briefed by the client through the site.

A corporate/commercial solicitor has launched the latest alternative business structure with a view to forming partnerships with other professionals. Joanne Bligh has set up Thinking Legal in Birmingham.

rtesian Law, the groundbreaking SRA-regulated law firm set up by six junior criminal law barristers, has named Bryan Cox QC as its first associate member. Mr Cox is a tenant of New Park Court Chambers in Leeds.

A groundbreaking new law firm that handles personal injury claims for other practices on a white-label basis has launched in the north-east of England. Questus says it is the first dedicated outsourcing law firm of its type.

Instant Law – the legal video-conferencing business that currently offers its service through major libraries in London and Birmingham – is to move into the not-for-profit sector next month by partnering with Greenwich Citizens Advice Bureau in London.

The Legal Services Board has approved Bar Standards Board proposals to introduce an aptitude test for prospective Bar students. The test aims to weed out the bottom 10% of candidates.

Frontline legal regulators have failed to involve consumers when designing their policies and must in future target resources on improving “bad pricing practices”, according to the Legal Services Consumer Panel.

Red Bar Law has become the first start-up alternative business structure, offering clients early access to barristers and costs savings of at least 30%. It is the brainchild of a solicitor and business consultant.

Alternative business structures and tax liabilities mean that over 2,000 law firms are at risk of failure in the next 12 months, according to the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, better known as R3.

A corporate approach to working, with joint strategies and common vision, can enable elements of the Bar to continue to operate as an independent referral profession, with the Bar Council’s proposed new Bar Business Standard a good start, it has been claimed.

An innovative Scottish legal services business that works on fixed fees and offers clients an outsourced in-house legal function is looking to replicate its model south of Hadrian’s Wall. Vialex is also eyeing up becoming an ABS.

The prospect of the first football-related alternative business structure moved closer to reality this week after a Norwich law firm set up a football agency. Leathes Prior has also launched an innovative litigation risk analysis tool.

Satisfaction with legal services providers is high, major new research has found, with those using solicitors likely to get a better result than those who sought advice from other providers. But fewer than half of those with legal needs sought professional help.

Innovative legal businesses such as Riverview Law, Co-operative Legal Services and Parabis are demanding a new approach to educating and training new lawyers as they create different roles for them, such as project management and data analysis.

Concerns over the standard of will-writing by solicitors are based on limited evidence and the Solicitors Regulation Authority should not have to prove its ability to regulate such work, the Law Society has claimed.