Serious Fraud Office launches criminal investigation into Quindell
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced this afternoon that its director has opened a criminal investigation into “business and accounting practices” at troubled Quindell plc. The Financial Reporting Council has launched its own investigation.
Legal research pioneers to bring “artificially intelligent attorney” to UK
Law firms in England and Wales are in the sights of the creators of the legal research programme powered by IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence computer system, which claims to be able to answer legal queries posed in natural language.
SRA warns criminal lawyers of wider review as row over legal aid boycott deepens
Paul Philip, chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), has warned criminal lawyers that they may be the subject of a “thematic review”, as the row between practitioners and their regulator over the legal aid boycott deepened.
Outsourcing giant launches ABS to add legal to claims services
A global legal outsourcing brand has launched an alternative business structure to add legal services to its motor claims business. WNS, based in Mumbai, has delivery centres across the world.
Police called in stand-off over ownership of law firm
A High Court judge has described how locks were changed and the police were called in an extraordinary stand-off over the ownership of a law firm. The case also raised questions about the extent of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s intervention powers.
Slow off the blocks? BSB regulates fewer firms than expected as ABS launch date slips further
The Bar Standards Board (BSB), which predicted at one point last year that it would authorise 400 firms in 2015, has authorised only 32 in its first four months as an entity regulator, it has emerged. Meanwhile it may not be regulating alternative business structures until later next year.
Fairpoint buys Colemans-ctts
Fairpoint Group has bought volume personal injury and conveyancing firm Colemans-ctts for £9m, plus a further £7m, linked to performance. The purchase brings Fairpoint’s income from consumer legal services to 62%.
Rules forcing local authorities to set up ABSs “risk privatisation of public sector legal services”
Local authority legal departments are being forced to set up alternative business structures by restrictive rules on in-house lawyers, leading to the “privatisation” of public sector legal services, the director of Essex Legal Services has claimed.
Two-partner firm succeeds in striking out £8m professional negligence claim
A two-partner central London law firm has succeeded in striking out a professional negligence claim for over £8m. Master Bowles said the claimants had allowed the proceedings to sink into “indefinite abeyance”.
Business services giant blames SRA rules for scuppering ABS plans
Peninsula Business Services, one of the largest unregulated providers of legal services in the country, has blamed Solicitors Regulation Authority rules for scuppering its plans to set up an alternative business structure. The company provides employment law, HR and health and safety advice to over 30,000 small businesses in the UK.
