Legal Services Act

The long-running saga over standard contractual terms between barristers and solicitors has hit another hurdle after the Legal Services Board issued a statutory warning notice that it is considering whether to reject changes to the cab-rank rule that would underpin them.

An award-winning Brighton business law firm is to license out its brand and back-office support to solicitors who want to set up their own practices. The aim is to have at least 10 Acumen Business Law licensees in the south-east at the end of the first year.

Birmingham and Westminster city councils are teaming up with legal video conferencing business Instant Law to provide library users with free access to online advice, Legal Futures can reveal.

Law firms and other legal providers that offer consumers fixed fees “are likely to have a clear competitive advantage” over those that bill by the hour, new research has shown. It also forecasts that the legal market will grow this year, mainly thanks to larger law firms, with smaller ones struggling.

National law firm Irwin Mitchell has named the former vice-chairman UK of PricewaterhouseCoopers its chairman-designate as it continues preparations to become an alternative business structure.

Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has begun staffing its family division after launching what it described as the largest recruitment drive in its history. CLS is looking to appoint up to 150 new positions. It currently has around 400 staff.

The Legal Services Board, Bar Council and 10 top law firms have signed the government’s ‘Business Compact’ on social mobility to end the “who you know, not what you know” culture, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced.

The government review of the “continuing need for the functions and the form” of the Legal Services Board and Office for Legal Complaints began yesterday with a call for evidence. It will take up to six months to complete.

It is not necessary to use a legally qualified professional to prepare a will, the British Bankers Association has insisted. It said a bank’s in-house unit “produces just as satisfactory a service as a firm of solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority”.

Law firms and barristers’ chambers may be forced to publish statistics on how efficiently they handle complaints internally – including how many they receive – the Legal Ombudsman has suggested.

Our regular round-up includes the latest number of ABS applicants, an about-turn by the founder of Solicitors from Hell, Eversheds extending its partnership with Tyco, more cash for Rocket Lawyer, plus Manchester mergers, litigation funding and more.

Everyman Legal – the ‘virtual’ practice that last October became the first law firm to announce its intention to seek admission to a stock exchange – has announced plans to pioneer “business hub franchises” for solicitors.

More than 10 prospective alternative business structures completed the first stage of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application process on the first day, the authority has revealed. SRA figures show that it will spend a minimum of three days considering applications.

Alternative business structures will make solicitors’ firms “more competitive, more accessible and more efficient”, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly claimed today as the Solicitors Regulation Authority opened its doors to the first ABS applications.

The Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg) is set to apply to become an alternative business structure licensing authority, it has emerged. A scoping document published last week lays out the process required to be designated in October 2013.