New PI marketing collective bids to make splash with £12m backing from firms
A new not-for-profit personal injury marketing collective with 20 law firms stumping up £600,000 each to create a £12m budget is set to go live shortly in a bid to disrupt the market. The collective has been put together with well-known legal digital marketing agency mmadigital.
Innovation is not the Holy Grail, SDT tells Legal Services Board
The Legal Services Board gives the impression that it values innovation and market development above all things, including “the necessary protective role of regulation” when it goes wrong, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has said.
SRA refers Public Interest Lawyers to tribunal over Iraq abuse inquiry
Public Interest Lawyers confirmed yesterday that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided to refer it to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over the Al-Sweady inquiry. It followed the SRA’s announcement in the morning that it had referred an unnamed firm to the tribunal, having earlier this year named Leigh Day as the first.
Co-op Legal Services back in the black but turnover falls again
Co-operative Legal Services returned to profit last year, although turnover continued to fall, its annual results have revealed. Though turnover – which reached a high of £33m in 2012 – was down a further 14% to £18m, CLS turned a £5m loss into a £700,000 profit.
UK seeing benefits of ABS and US “must take note”
Real benefits are emerging from alternative business structures and the US should be open-minded about adopting them, according to an academic study. It found that while ABSs did not amount to a transformation of the industry, their effects on the firms in England and Wales that adopted the business model were positive.
MoJ wins privilege battle over PowerPoint slides prepared by counsel for training session
PowerPoint slides prepared by external counsel for training at the Ministry of Justice were subject to legal professional privilege and did not have to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, the First-Tier Tribunal has ruled.
City lawyers have “very poor” knowledge of SRA Handbook
The introduction of entity regulation has had the unintended effect of “insourcing” professional obligations to specialist compliance staff, leaving knowledge among City lawyers of the SRA Handbook “very poor”, a leading legal academic has found as part of a major government-funded project.
BSB warns commercial pressures driving barristers to take risks
Commercial pressures on barristers are causing high risk behaviours that are detectable in complaints received by the Bar Standards Board, an assessment of future regulatory dangers has revealed. It also highlighted what it claimed were indications that senior barristers were abusing their position of power over women, pupils, and junior barristers.
Essex Legal Services becomes only fourth local authority ABS
Essex Legal Services has become just the fourth local authority legal department to become an alternative business structure. The legal department of Essex County Council predicted that it could make an additional surplus of £1.8m by 2020 through a “growth strategy” with creation of the ABS as “one of the key enablers”.
Review highlights multiple failings that led to £7m failure of Veyo
Not involving expert conveyancers sufficiently was one of several fundamental failings that led to the collapse of the Law Society’s Veyo project, which has cost solicitors £7m, a review has concluded. External consultants said there was not one single decision or mistake which resulted in Veyo’s demise.
