Policeman jailed for selling crash data to claims firm – which were sold on to law firms
Two married constables working for Lancashire Police were sentenced last month for stealing police data about car crashes and selling it to claims firms for £363,000. An investigation was launched after people complained they were getting calls from law firms when they had not given their details to anyone other than the police.
Keoghs launches AI product that will cut insurer clients’ legal costs
Leading defendant law firm Keoghs has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) driven service that cuts legal costs for insurer clients by enabling them to handle work that is currently done by its lawyers. Its “AI lawyer”, called Lauri, is initially for what are called “avoidable litigation” cases – generally standard, low-value claims.
Tribunal orders law firm to disclose advice after finding client waived privilege in appeal papers
A law firm has been ordered to reveal to the tax man aspects of the advice it gave to a client after a tribunal found that the client had waived privilege in its grounds to bring an appeal out of time. However, to ensure that advice irrelevant to the issue at hand was not disclosed, the tribunal said it would review all redactions considered appropriate by the firm.
Bar recognises wellbeing pioneers as CBA warns of “crisis” among criminal barristers
The Bar Council has issued its first series of certificates to recognise efforts made to support the wellbeing of barristers, clerks and chambers’ staff. The move came as the Criminal Bar Association – itself one of the 31 chambers, inns and specialist Bar associations to receive a certificate – warned of a “crisis” in the wellbeing of its members.
Legal chatbot pioneer receives $1m investment to pursue goal of making access to law free
DoNotPay – the chatbot that aims to make access to the law free – has received $1.1m (£840,000) in backing from leading Silicon Valley investors, and even some lawyers. DoNotPay is the brainchild of English-born student Josh Browder, who started the site as a teenager to fight his own parking tickets.
Langdon sounds warning bell over “shrinking” junior Bar
While the Bar continues to increase in size, the junior Bar is shrinking, in part because of competition from solicitors, the profession’s leader has warned. Bar Council chairman Andrew Langdon QC highlighted wellbeing and diversity as two further challenges to a Bar that he said was otherwise changing with the times and following the market.
Lawyers aim to “intimidate” clients who complain, says report
Some clients worry about being “bamboozled by legal jargon” if they complain to their lawyers, a fear that can be borne out by responses that are “seeming calculated to ‘overwhelm’ or ‘intimidate’ the customer”, according to new research.
Jordans ABS prepares to take on world after rapid growth
The head of the alternative business structure set up by company formations specialist and legal publisher Jordans has set its sights on international expansion. Debbie Farman said Jordans Corporate Law was “a concept we can replicate globally”, after growing its turnover from £67,000 in 2014 to £1.1m this year.
Technology will put one in five legal jobs at risk, Law Society predicts
Legal jobs are already being lost to technology, with the figure climbing to tens of thousands over the next two decades as automation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) take hold, according to the Law Society. In the shorter term, the society also predicted that growth in the turnover of law firmswould be modest, with little or no ‘Brexit dividend’.
From rewriting clients’ wills to drunk driving – SRA wields disciplinary powers over errant lawyers
A chartered legal executive who amended clients’ wills for her own benefit and a drink-driving solicitor are among those whose misconduct has been handled internally by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in recent weeks, rather than referring them to a disciplinary tribunal.
