Legal Services Act

Deloitte has been awarded its alternative business structure licence, some five months after announcing that it was to become the last of the Big Four accountancy firms to offer reserved legal activities.

The Legal Services Board finally has a permanent chair after Dr Helen Phillips was given an unprecedented five-year term, while the Law Society finally has a permanent CEO.

The newest legal business to list on the stock exchange saw its shares rise 7.5% on admission yesterday as it predicted that it would benefit from the government’s proposed personal injury reforms.

The Legal Services Board’s public censure of the Law Society last month is evidence that its rules on regulatory independence do not need tightening, the Bar Council has argued.

A former hedge fund boss who wants a better service for those needing family law services is backing a multi-disciplinary law firm aimed at high net-worth individuals and family offices.

Women have become the majority of practising solicitors for the first time, but men are still twice as likely to be partners, according to new figures.

Law firms are at risk of being overtaken by changes in the legal marketplace if they do not rethink how their businesses are run, according to a new survey.

A group bringing together credit hire and legal services is to list on the stock exchange this week. Anexo Group has recently obtained an ABS licence.

Top-25 practice DWF is considering whether to become by far the largest law firm to list on the London Stock Exchange, it emerged today. The move would galvanise interest in law firms going public.

Law firms will have to publish their prices for a range of consumer and business services, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided, but they will not have to put their complaints records in the public domain. It comes alongside research showing consumers particularly wanted information on price and quality before choosing a lawyer.

The government yesterday fought off efforts in the House of Lords led by former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf to remove the new compensation tariff that will govern whiplash injuries, although it has agreed that the Lord Chancellor should consult the Lord Chief Justice when setting it, in one of a series of relatively minor concessions.

Insolvencies in the legal sector are set to double this year if trends seen in the first quarter of 2018 continue, indicating a possible downturn in the fortunes of law firms, it has been claimed. The figures also indicate that law firms may be waiting too long before seeking help.

The Legal Services Board has approved an application by CILEx Regulation to license alternative business structures, which will now go to the Lord Chancellor for a final decision. If successful, the regulator of chartered legal executives will become the sixth ABS licensing authority.

Opposition peers and leading legal figures will today try and curb the government’s whiplash reforms as the Civil Liability Bill enters its crucial report stage. Following last month’s committee stage, during which amendments probed the government’s thinking but were not pushed to a vote, this is the day when peers will make changes to the bill, if at all.

The criminal Bar has narrowly voted to accept the government’s offer of £15m additional funding for the advocates’ graduated fee scheme, a result described as “neither a defeat nor a victory”. Some 1,566 (51.55%) barristers voted to accept and 1,472 (48.45%) voted to reject.