Raise the small claims limit, say leading claimant PI lawyers with alternative reform plan
Leading claimant personal injury solicitors recognise that the small claims limit “needs to rise” but have called on the government to increase it to £1,600, rather than £5,000, and also require road traffic accidents to be notified within a year, as part of an alternative package of reforms.
Law Society’s FoI adjudicator criticises SRA in battle over Blacker documents
The Law Society’s freedom of information adjudicator has criticised the Solicitor Regulation Authority for giving an “unfortunate impression” that it is not committed to transparency because of the way it handled disclosure requests relating to struck-off solicitor Alan Blacker.
Law Society: technological innovation “will determine law firms’ success”
A typical law firm in the future will accommodate a new generation of disruptive technologies, such as virtual assistants, machine learning and automation, but legal services must not lose their human touch, a major Law Society report on technological innovation has urged.
Serial entrepreneur embraces unbundling with launch of ‘para-law firm’
A legal business which employs paralegals to handle straightforward work directly for clients while managing qualified lawyers on the advisory aspects of their case, has been launched by a serial legal services entrepreneur. He describes it as the UK’s first “para-law firm”.
Pioneering ABS sold to major firm in pre-pack deal
Pioneering alternative business structure Triton Global has been acquired by national law firm DWF in a pre-pack administration deal that saves all 215 jobs. Triton is a multi-disciplinary insurance business combining legal advice, claims administration and loss adjusting that became one of the first ABSs to introduce employee ownership.
Accounts analysis forecasts grim future for over 500 law firms
A financial health analysis of law firms based on annual accounts has predicted that at least 500 firms are heading for collapse in the next three years, with law firms at greater financial risk than businesses as a whole – but the profession was warned that the toll could be higher still.
SRA: Law Society governance problems prove need for independence
The Law Society’s governance troubles – with the resignation of chief executive Catherine Dixon earlier this month – are proof that it is “unsuitable” for any role in the regulation of the profession, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has told the Legal Services Board.
MoJ tells law firms to name their price in legal aid first
The Ministry of Justice has revived the idea of price competitive tendering for legal aid contracts – this time for court-based duty solicitor advice on housing. The proposals would cut the number of housing duty solicitor schemes by more than half, from 117 in 2015-6 to 48.
“Thousands of jobs at risk” from PI reforms, economists warn
Some 31,000 jobs at law firms and other businesses in the personal injury (PI) sector are at ‘high risk’ of being lost if the government presses ahead with its reform agenda, according to an economics consultancy commissioned by the pressure group, Access 2 Justice.
Bourns and Philip clash over SRA reform plans and independence wish
The president of the Law Society and chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have clashed in public over the latter’s controversial proposal to allow solicitors to practise from unauthorised businesses. They also sniped at each other over the independence of the SRA.
