SRA taken to task over enforcement and IT failures
The Legal Services Board has strongly criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority over failures in its enforcement work and IT systems – and also warned about the risk that the overhaul of the Handbook “may be too much” for firms and the regulator to cope with. However, the LSB said the legal regulators collectively had all made “substantial progress”.
Free2Convey to relaunch “within weeks”
Free2Convey, the conveyancing portal designed as a free rival to the Law Society’s failed portal Veyo, is to relaunch itself to conveyancers, estate agents and the public “within weeks”, it has emerged. Matt Lancaster, who has led work on the portal, said he hoped it would be used by most conveyancing firms by the end of this year.
ReviewSolicitors to target law firm investors through crowdfunding
A legal rating and review website, set up last autumn by the former chief operating officer of QualitySolicitors, is to launch a crowdfunding bid next month targeting law firms. ReviewSolicitors wants to raise at least £150,000 from 50 law firms.
Major law firm adopts Watson-based AI research tool
ROSS Intelligence, the artificial intelligence legal research technology built on IBM’s Watson cognitive computer, has announced its first commercial partnership with one of the largest law firms in the US.
Dentons to create “world’s largest referral network” – and it’s free
International firm Dentons is to launch what it describes as the first free global law firm referral network, with the aim of “changing the whole marketplace”. Meanwhile, LOD has claimed another first by launching an online marketplace for freelance lawyers.
Former big firm managing partners opt for ABS
A Bath-based legal services business run by two former managing partners of large firms – Withy King and CMS Cameron McKenna – has obtained an alternative business structure licence to bring regulated legal work in-house. OmniaLegal describes itself as a “legal services co-operative with a difference”.
Tribunal fines barrister who pestered women at chambers summer party
A barrister who pestered three women at a chambers summer party with suggestive movements and comments has been fined £1,800 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal. It said he failed to act with integrity and behaved in a way likely to diminish the trust and confidence the public places in a barrister or the profession.
Smaller law firms feeling vulnerable, with almost all expecting “rough times ahead”
There is a “climate of renewed vulnerability” among smaller law firms, with the vast majority of lawyers believing there are “still rough times ahead”, a report has found. The report also revealed a huge gulf between lawyer and client perceptions of value.
Tribunal “appalled and dismayed” by SRA’s approach to prosecuting solicitor
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has slammed a prosecution by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the strongest terms, saying it was “appalled and dismayed” that the regulator had asked it to “rubber stamp” a deal which saw charges of dishonesty dropped at the last minute after the solicitor accused made certain admissions.
DAS Law launches graduate academy as staff numbers top 200
DAS Law – the alternative business structure set up by the eponymous legal expenses insurer – is launching a pioneering graduate academy for “lawyers of the future”, with the first six recruits starting next month. Staff numbers at the firm have doubled to around 220 since it was created in 2013.
