Exclusive: Barrister ABS offers couples ‘single joint expert’ approach to divorce
Two family law barristers have set up what is believed to be the first service allowing separating couples to obtain advice from a single legal expert at any point in the process. They are launching The Divorce Surgery as an alternative business structure regulated by the Bar Standards Board later this week.
Notaries lose confidence in regulator’s ability to oversee probate and conveyancing work
The Notaries Society is calling on the profession’s regulator, the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to abandon its oversight of the “extremely high risk” activities of probate and conveyancing given the cost needed to do it properly. The society said its ruling council decided last month with “a degree of reluctance” to call for the pull-out.
Exclusive: Rocket Lawyer receives waiver to employ solicitors
Unregulated online legal services company Rocket Lawyer has received a waiver to allow practising solicitors to advise its clients, Legal Futures can reveal. Peninsula – the business services giant that owns Croner – has its own waiver, and is highlighting to potential customers the benefits of privilege that come with it, we can also report.
Former City partners challenge legal directories with online rival
Two former partners of leading City law firms have launched an online legal directory venture that they hope will replace the traditional printed directories. Top3legal enables client recommendations to be linked to an existing database of 156,000 lawyers, assembled from publicly available information.
Call for “emotional competency” push as Mental Health Awareness Week kicks off
Training law students in emotional competency, and a change in culture, led from the top, in law firms and chambers are among the shifts needed to combat the growing problem of stress in the legal profession, according to a roundtable held in the run-up to Mental Health Awareness Week, which begins today.
Slater & Gordon looks to turn page with £30m investment – but two more offices to close
Slater & Gordon announced today that it will invest over £30m on new technology and broadening its services over the next three years – with volume conveyancing a target – as the firm looks to put the troubles of the past behind it. Legal Futures was given the first trade interview with the firm’s CEO about his vision for the future.
Government gives no quarter in defence of whiplash reforms despite pressure from peers
The government stood firm on its proposed whiplash reforms yesterday despite criticism from peers, on the first day of the Civil Liability Bill’s committee stage in the House of Lords. Though dozens of amendments were put down, none was pushed to a vote but may well be revisited at the bill’s report stage.
Investigation of law firm accounts reports “tripled in two years”, impact report shows
The number of qualified accountants’ reports due to rule breaches has fallen by two-thirds since the rules were changed in 2015, but the amount then being investigated for possible rule breaches has tripled, it has emerged. A handful of them have led to regulatory action as a result.
Call to investigate barriers to ABSs moving into other professional services
The Solicitors Regulation Authority should investigate whether there are regulatory barriers to law firms that become alternative business structures providing other professional services such as accountancy and surveying, rather than vice versa, a report it commissioned has recommended.
Top judge predicts revolution in use of legal services and training of lawyers
Technology will revolutionise the way we educate, train, and utilise legal expertise, a senior judge has predicted. Sir Geoffrey Vos, chancellor of the High Court, laid out a vision of the future where training might depend on whether people wanted to be a ‘social lawyer’, a ‘human rights lawyer’ or a ‘business lawyer.
