
Judge criticises plan for witnesses to give unsupervised evidence from home
The High Court has criticised parties that agreed without seeking permission that witnesses in a remote hearing would give evidence from their own homes unsupervised.

Solicitor rebuked for failing to report staff member’s conviction
A solicitor who failed to report that a fee-earner he employed had been convicted of an immigration offence has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

City lawyers “need help from their firms” to engage with technology
Lawyers have been reluctant to engage with technology partly because law firm partners haven’t given junior staff enough time to learn how it can help them, according to a government-backed report.

Divorce firm looks to shake up field with fixed fee for whole process
A freelance solicitor has teamed up with a former KPMG partner to launch a divorce business that guarantees its fixed-fee quote for the whole process, including ancillary relief.

Firm self-reports to SRA over court recording breach
A London law firm has escaped judicial punishment after reporting itself to the SRA after a transcriber it hired recorded remote court proceedings without the judge’s permission.

Brian calls in Atkinson to lead post-Civil Liability Act strategy
The former chief executive of NAHL Group has joined innovative claims management company Call Brian as its chairman. It says it allows people to submit a claim in just seven minutes.

In-house lawyers will have to deliver more for less, survey finds
Almost two-thirds of in-house legal departments are predicting increased workloads, despite most anticipating no increase in staff numbers and almost half expecting budget cuts.

Solicitors fined for failing to prevent £3.3m property fraud
Two directors of an alternative business structure have been fined for not supervising a branch office where a fellow director and a bogus solicitor carried out a £3.3m property fraud.

Latest figures confirm low take-up by LiPs of whiplash portal
Low numbers of litigants in person, two law firms dominating claims, and solicitors using the wrong portal have been features of the early days of the whiplash reforms.

SRA fines six firms for failing to provide AML compliance declaration
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published details of fines levied against six law firms for failing to confirm in time that they had a compliant anti-money laundering firm-wide risk assessment.







