UK lawtech start-ups “struggling to compete with well-funded US rivals”
The author of a visual map of the lawtech start-up scene said it revealed the UK has a lower number of new technology ventures relative to the size of the legal market as a whole, compared with other European countries.
Exclusive: leading chambers sets up international law firm
Outer Temple Chambers has taken the unprecedented step of setting up what is effectively a separate international law firm, employing a solicitor. Outer Temple International, a Bar Standards Board-regulated entity, has now secured insurance and is set to go live this week.
Exclusive: ABS One Legal makes second crime firm acquisition
One Legal – the externally funded alternative business structure that saved leading crime firm Kaim Todner earlier this year – has made its second acquisition as it looks to create a new model for criminal law, Legal Futures can reveal. One Legal is headed by Trevor Howarth, the founder of now-defunct Stobart Barristers.
Litigation finance company opens its ABS for business
AIM-listed litigation finance company Burford Capital has finally activated its alternative business structure after hiring a solicitor to act in judgment enforcement matters. Burford Law was licensed in January 2016 but will now start operating after the company hired litigator Tom Evans as its head.
Gateley scheme gives staff 20% discount on shares
AIM-listed law firm Gateley has launched an employee share scheme that will enable all members of staff to secure up to £500 of shares every month at a discount of 20% on their price. Some 44% of the firm’s 650 staff have signed up for shares since the scheme launched at the end of August.
New advocates lack “basic knowledge” of ethical rules, report finds
Significant numbers of new advocates are “weaker than might be hoped on basic knowledge” of ethical rules, a major report has found. The report also found that ethics training before and after qualification was “insufficiently robust or frequent to enable confident ethical practice amongst new advocates”.
SDT suspends solicitor who ignored practice restrictions
A solicitor who ignored restrictions on his practising certificate and worked as a sole practitioner when he was not meant to has been suspended by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. He told the tribunal that he was “only trying to make a living” and that the restrictions meant “very few firms were willing to take him on”.
Growing Sheffield law firm exits QualitySolicitors over “brand conflict”
Sheffield law firm SSB Law has left the QualitySolicitors network to focus on its own brand instead at a time when it says “the traditional law firm approach has a limited future”. It said it joined because “there was a basis for a national brand” but over time there was “an increasing conflict” with its own brand.
SRA unveils two-stage, computer-based Solicitors Qualifying Exam
The Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) – the centralised test proposed for would-be practitioners – will be split into two stages, with the first consisting mainly of computer-based questions, the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed yesterday.
Legal executives “less likely to want to become solicitors”, research finds
Legal executives are increasingly less likely to want to train as solicitors, switching to a trainee contract after having been a paralegal can involve a decrease in contact with clients, a major survey has found. The research said workplace experience helps to develop the competences needed to be a solicitor.
