Legal Ombudsman delays creep up again
The waiting time for the Legal Ombudsman simply to start considering a complaint has nearly halved over the past year but it was still 90 days before the pandemic struck.
Top GC defends in-house lawyers’ approach to ethics
A leading general counsel has attacked the assumption that in-house lawyers “leave their morals at the door” when they join their companies.
MPs call on SRA to investigate City firm over bank scandal
City giant Herbert Smith Freehills either compromised its independence or provided incompetent advice in its work for Lloyds Banking Group on the Reading scandal, a group of MPs and peers has claimed.
National Lottery awards £5m to Community Justice Fund
The Community Justice Fund, an initiative between the Access to Justice Foundation and five other leading social welfare funders, has been awarded a £5m grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.
Law firms “could undermine positive impact” of SQE on diversity
The emphasis on increasing the range and choice of legal training in the Solicitors Qualifying Examination could help remove the blockage to social mobility in the profession.
Vodafone offers business customers access to legal help
Mobile telephone giant Vodafone is now offering access to legal services to its 500,000 business customers after signing a partnership with unregulated legal business Sparqa Legal.
Angry Bar Council mocks Buckland over profession’s support
The Bar Council has come out fighting after the Lord Chancellor told the Today programme that there was “a lot of support” from the legal profession for extending court sitting hours.
US Bar chief condemned over Black Lives Matter comments
An American Bar leader who called the Black Lives Matter movement a “terrorist group” five years ago has been denounced “in the strongest terms” by his own organisation.
Fewer than half of employment tribunal claimants use lawyers
Fewer than half of employment tribunal claimants use a lawyer, with most of those unrepresented at hearings saying it was because they could not afford one, according to government research.
Client waived privilege by contesting what her instructions were
A client arguing that her former solicitors did not follow her instructions in drawing up a divorce petition waived privilege in doing so, a High Court judge has ruled.
