Legal Services Act

The Legal Services Consumer Panel said last week that it was “not blind to the challenges of increased price transparency”, but insisted that making lawyers publish “average” prices could be the catalyst for making consumers ask more questions about cost.

The Legal Services Board has shied away from recommending a single solution which all the legal regulators should follow on indemnity insurance. The LSB instead called on the regulators to work more closely together on the issue.

The Legal Services Board has argued more strongly than ever that professional bodies must be fully separated from regulators. In a letter to the justice select committee, Sir Michael Pitt, chairman of the LSB, argued that there was scope under existing arrangements for them to “resist reforms”.

AIM-listed Fairpoint Group is set to become almost entirely a legal services business after announcing that it will stop offering debt management plans – which was once a key part of its business. It said that from next year the group would focus on its “higher-growth legal services segment”.

Gateley is seeing the benefits of being the first UK-listed law firm, its chairman said today as it announced record turnover. Revenue increased 10.2% to £67.1m in the year to 30 April 2016, with profit before tax up 12.2% to £11m. As a result shareholders are to see a final dividend of 3.764p.

Nearly half of consumer legal services are provided on a fixed-fee basis, new research has found – but it said consumers are still being hampered by a lack of information to help them choose the right lawyer, leading to “lower levels of satisfaction and trust in legal services”.

A family-run firm of funeral directors with 36 branches has become the first of its kind to set up an alternative business structure. Lodge Brothers Legal Services, launched last week, offers fixed-fee services for clients wanting wills, probate and powers of attorney.

The first local authority alternative business structure to be given a licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been taken over by the second. Lawyers at Buckinghamshire County Council have joined HB Public Law, making it the largest local authority legal team in the country.

More than 600 solicitors and barristers have signed up to the online marketplace for freelance lawyers set up by LOD that goes live today. Spoke.law allows law firms and in-house teams that need short-term extra resource to hire freelancers on a day rate via a website.

The slow pace of change in the legal services market means “regulatory intervention” is needed to force firms to publish their average prices even though it is not a perfect solution, the voice of legal consumers has said. The Legal Services Consumer Panel said this could also counter negative perceptions of lawyers.

Friday’s Competition and Markets Authority report on legal services has reignited the debate over independent regulation, with both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board welcoming the call for separation from their representative bodies.

The government is today laying out plans to remove restrictions on alternative business structures (ABSs) on the basis that they have proven no more risky than traditional law firms. However, it has delayed publication of the consultation on the independence of legal regulators from representative bodies.

The Legal Services Act 2007 has improved quality and, to some extent, competition in legal services, but further legislative reform is necessary to complete the liberalisation of the market, the Legal Services Board said today in its triennial evaluation of the Act.

Redde plc – the AIM-listed accident management company that owns NewLaw Solicitors – has seen its share price bounce back following the post-referendum stock market falls, with the help of a positive trading statement.

A solicitor who failed in his attempt to challenge the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s closure of his alternative business structure is now to face a disciplinary tribunal, it has emerged. Michael John Elsdon is facing 15 charges, largely in relation to his conduct of probate matters.