Legal Services Act

The Ministry of Justice has revived the idea of price competitive tendering for legal aid contracts – this time for court-based duty solicitor advice on housing. The proposals would cut the number of housing duty solicitor schemes by more than half, from 117 in 2015-6 to 48.

A ‘Global Britain’ summit is to be held in the spring to highlight “the vital role played by the legal services sector in underpinning our economy”, the Ministry of Justice announced today. Lord Chancellor Liz Truss also spoke out about the importance of cross-border cooperation in civil justice continuing after Brexit.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has warned that it will “reconsider whether it wishes to remain as a legal services regulator” if the government insists that regulators are fully independent from their professional bodies. The long-awaited consultation on this is said to be imminent.

Commercial law firms need to adopt a “redesigned approach to legal services”, including “paraprofessionals, technologists, information specialists, process managers and others” as well as lawyers, a major report has argued.

RSM has become the largest firm of accountants outside of the Big Four to launch a legal practice with an alternative business structure licence. The UK’s seventh largest provider of audit, tax and consulting services – which has revenues approaching £300m a year – will target mid-tier and owner-managed businesses with RSM Legal.

Leading London law firm and alternative business structure Mishcon de Reya yesterday announced the creation of an incubator for lawtech start-ups, with the founder saying it was less about investment than helping to change the firm’s culture to embrace technology.

A DIY online information service run by the law firm owned by global insurance giant Markel has been opened up to individual SME subscribers. LHS Solicitors charges £45 a year for full access to a ‘digital hub’ which has templates, factsheets, guides, and legal documents, aimed at businesses.

The recently ratified Paris Agreement on ending human-caused CO2 emissions offers “huge new opportunities” for law firms to assist with the transition to a zero-emissions economy, a report has claimed. It said firms should consider “getting in on the ground floor” with advising companies producing electric vehicles.

An AIM-listed provider of online B2B platforms – which white labels MoneySupermarket’s conveyancer search – has bought Conveyancing Alliance for an initial £7.2m as part of its strategy to become the country’s leading handler of conveyancing.

Some of the over £970m earmarked by the government for civil and criminal court reform should be used instead to stem the collapse in spending on legal aid, the Legal Action Group has suggested. It argued that the civil legal aid system was “in free fall” and the underspend in its budget over the last three years should be reinvested in an “innovation and early intervention” fund.

City solicitor David Harrel has become temporary executive chairman of AIM-listed legal business Fairpoint Group after its chief executive, Chris Moat, stepped down. Meanwhile, Slater & Gordon announced last week that it is talking to its lenders about refinancing and recapitalisation.

Artificial intelligence will likely be better at predicting the outcome of cases than the most experienced QCs, the Lord Chief Justice has warned. He also flagged changes that would see unbundling, outsourcing, and lesser-qualified staff assisted by technology taking over some of the work now done by lawyers.

The first private equity fund to invest in a high street law firm that has now put money into a ‘dispersed’ law firm has said it is “business as usual” despite Brexit and it would welcome further approaches from solicitors.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has launched an investigation into whether Slater & Gordon’s accounts have been falsified, it emerged last night. In particular, it is looking to determine whether financial records and accounts over a 22-month period were deliberately falsified or manipulated.

Hudgells Solicitors has opened up a new front in the battle over the government’s proposed PI reforms by saying that there is a far better and easier way to reform rehabilitation provision that does not involve “the unexpected and dangerous reforms hidden away at the back of its recent consultation”.