Legal Services Act

The new president of the Supreme Court yesterday joined what appears to be a growing clamour to reinstate public funding to provide early legal advice. Lady Hale also reiterated her concern about the possible downgrading of the objective in legal regulation to encourage an “independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession”.

Shine Lawyers, the personal injury law firm that followed Slater & Gordon into listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, now finds itself on the receiving end of a shareholder class action, just like Slater & Gordon. The A$250m (£149m) action alleges that Shine misled investors in a series of representations it made to the market.

Riverview Law has become the first law firm to offer its trainee solicitors a six-month seat in technology services, having obtained approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We also have news from ABSs Co-operative Legal Services, Express Solicitors, Keoghs, gunnercooke, Gateley and Astute Dynamic – with diversification a notable theme.

The Legal Services Board has approved a rule change by the Solicitors Regulation Authority which will make it easier for law firms to switch regulators. In a move which is likely to see more firms leave the SRA than join it, the requirement that they must obtain six years of run-off cover before switching to another regulator will be removed.

The Legal Services Board has marked as “sufficient” action plans produced by legal regulators to introduce price transparency and release other information to the public to help with purchasing decisions. The verdict on the original action plans published at the end of June came in the wake of the regulators moving to the next stage of consulting on how they would implement transparency.

A team of 11 partners and 22 other commercial lawyers has left troubled Slater & Gordon for BLM as it looks to expand further beyond its core insurance law specialism. Meanwhile, a group of internal shareholders at AIM-listed law firm Gateley have sold £10m worth of shares.

The Legal Services Board has been warned against trying to force the introduction of the civil standard of proof in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal without proper consultation. The Law Society said it was “inappropriate” for the board to use performance assessments of the regulators it oversees to require them to introduce a lower standard.

David Bott, whose law firm has led the way in handling huge numbers of low-value flight delay compensation claims, said last week the government’s planned tariff scheme for personal injury cases would force him out of the market even if he adopted the same approach for them.

A large north of England debt collection agency has launched an alternative business structure to bring work in-house after commercial clients demanded a “seamless cradle to grave service”. The aim is “to continue the service that we already supply but do it from our internal resources rather than through partnerships with law firms”.

Leading insurance company LV= has ditched its legal services offering, less than two years after starting it, Legal Futures can reveal. In January 2016, it launched a joint venture with Bristol-based law firm Lyons Davidson to offer fixed-fee advice for a range of consumer legal services.

The Lord Chancellor, David Lidington, has unexpectedly rejected the Legal Services Board’s recommendation that chartered accountants should be able to handle litigation, advocacy and legal instruments in taxation work. It is the first time the Ministry of Justice has rejected a regulatory extension of this nature,

Pioneering alternative business structure (ABS) Genus Law – which started life with the somewhat bolder name Brilliant Law – closed last month, with its book of business sold to fellow ABS Alpaca Law, it has emerged. Meanwhile, another groundbreaking ABS, Co-operative Legal Services, announced a rise in turnover but dip in profits for the first half of 2017.

Leading personal injury lawyers told yesterday’s PI Futures conference that there is “all to play for” on the Civil Liability Bill as a “nervous” governments seeks to avoid a damaging parliamentary defeat. Delegates were also urged to write to the Law Society to demand it take more action, and to MPs about the impact on access to justice.

NAHL plc, the marketing and services business that owns National Accident Helpline, has announced a small dip in revenue and profits for the first half of 2017. The company warned investors last year that work to reshape its personal injury offering, in light of the upcoming government reforms, would lead to a temporary dampening of cash generation and profits.

A legal comparison website has gone live with its bespoke platform with the demand for such services in flux. The relaunch of MyLegalAdviser comes in the wake of The Law Superstore being sold last month. It is the brainchild of Alex Boothman, a one-time private client solicitor.