Exclusive: The Family Law Café opens for business
An online family law service that uses barristers to triage a client’s requirements and connect them with the experts needed to assist – whether they are barristers, solicitors, mediators, financial advisers, arbitrators, collaborative lawyers or therapists – has gone live this week.
Competence statement could be used as enforcement tool, SRA chief says
The Solicitors Regulation Authority adopted a new way to judge lawyers’ competence yesterday, which will for the first time mean it does not need to rely entirely on expert opinion or case law.
LSB going back to “first principles” as it mulls how to replace Legal Services Act
The Legal Services Board is returning to “first principles” as work begins to consider whether the Legal Services Act 2007 should be replaced, its chairman said today.
SRA prepares for rush of ABS applications from criminal law firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has put in place plans to fast-track alternative business structure and other new entity applications from criminal law firms in the event that the legal action against the government’s plans to reform legal aid fails.
SRA providing solicitors’ data to just one comparison website
Almost three months after the Solicitors Regulation Authority opened up its database to comparison websites, only one is actually receiving any information, it has emerged. Meanwhile the Bar Standards Board has opened its Barristers’ Register to the public.
More lawyers demand independent review of their treatment by SRA
The number of lawyers demanding an independent review of their treatment at the hands of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has gone up, despite a decline in members of the public making a similar request.
Bar Council in deal with credit specialist to finance fees
The Bar Council has joined forces with a legal credit finance specialist to enable direct access barristers to offer payment plans to their clients. BARCO, the Bar’s escrow account, will hold the loans obtained for clients by Legal Cost Finance.
FoI adjudicator accuses SRA of putting profession before public
The Law Society’s outgoing Freedom of Information adjudicator has told the Solicitors Regulation Authority that it does not consider the public interest sufficiently in too readily refusing to release details of its investigations.
High Court awards £50,000 damages to lawyer libelled in online review
An American lawyer has successfully sued over an online review posted by a British man, winning £50,000 damages at the High Court. Timothy Bussey, a criminal law attorney based in Colorado, found himself the target of a review attached to his firm’s Google Maps profile.
Law Society warns government against moves that threaten independence
The Law Society has spoken out against government plans to impose on the Solicitors Regulation Authority a duty to promote economic growth, which it said threatened the independence of the profession.
