Licensed conveyancers to face price and service transparency rules
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has become the first regulator to announce what service standards and prices it will mandate the firms it regulates to publish online. It is also encouraging its firms to go beyond the minimum regulatory requirements and use the transparency drive to differentiate themselves better and attract clients.
Litigants in person “would benefit from human-centred design changes” in courts
The civil courts should be reformed by introducing human-centred design principles into the courts, which would make them welcoming and easy to navigate for litigants in person, according to new research. This would overturn an evolution that has favoured legal professionals over ordinary court users, and make the whole experience more efficient and less intimidating.
And then there were five: ABS pioneer Knights announces intention to float
Pioneering alternative business structure Knights is the latest law firm to announce its intention to float on AIM, pledging to make three acquisitions in the next two years as part of its continuing growth strategy. Once it begins trading in late June, it will become the fifth law firm to list, hot on the heels of City firm Rosenblatt.
Conveyancing clients would pay more for “premium” service, research finds
Over a third of home movers would be prepared to pay more for a “premium customer service” from their conveyancer, according to new research that also charts how local solicitors have lost ground to licensed conveyancers and online operations. It said that many conveyancing firms were not responding quickly enough to “21st century mindsets”.
Solicitor who attributed false legal aid claims to depression struck off
A criminal defence solicitor has been struck off for dishonestly claiming £7,000 from the legal aid fund and falsifying documents to cover up his mistakes in double-booking advocates – at a time when he said he was suffering from severe depression which led him to drink and take un-prescribed drugs.
Authorities struggle to recover money from law firm frauds
An office manager jailed last year for stealing £413,000 from a Newcastle law firm can only pay back £58,000 to its partners, it emerged in court yesterday. Meanwhile, the Crown Court has appointed a receiver to recover a ‘tainted gift’ received by the wife of a jailed solicitor who plundered £1.8m from the estates of dead clients.
No point complaining about a barrister’s conduct to head of chambers or BSB, says judge
Complaining about a barrister’s conduct in a written ruling is usually a better way of a judge highlighting concerns than contacting their head of chambers or regulator, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has said. His Honour Judge Shanks said his experience was that neither of those methods achieved anything.
What price unity? Criminal solicitors question why Bar is at the negotiating table without them
Criminal defence solicitors have questioned the unity in the profession to reform the justice system after highlighting how the Bar has asked for solicitors’ support in its fee dispute without reciprocating or involving them in the discussions.
Legal Services Board slaps Law Society with first ever public censure
The Legal Services Board has handed out a public censure for the first time, after finding that the Law Society had governance arrangements in place that could have interfered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Law Society’s actions undermined “the public interest in effective regulation of legal services”.
Payment processor replaces conveyancers in “UK’s first fully digital mortgage settlement”
A payment processor has taken the place of conveyancers in handling the finances on completion day in what has been claimed to be the UK’s first fully digital mortgage settlement. It could spell the end to clients waiting with the removal van in the afternoon for money to be transferred between lawyers.
