SRA apologies for training contract numbers “confusion”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has apologised for releasing information that made it appear as if there had been a massive rise in training places last year – when in fact the number has stayed static.
Business Growth Fund to consider more law firm investments
The growth capital fund which became the first external investor in a high street law firm last week has said it will consider investing in other legal practices.
Slater & Gordon heats up TV advertising battle as Quindell share price rollercoaster continues
The TV advertising battle between legal brands stepped up this week with Slater & Gordon launching a new campaign with the message ‘Your case is our cause’. Meanwhile, the share price of Quindell plc, part of which S&G is in talks to buy, continues to fluctuate.
Watson-based app heralds ordinary speech legal searches
Would-be lawyers have designed an app that they claim is the first “artificially intelligent attorney”, able to conduct legal searches in answer to natural language queries, based on IBM’s cognitive computer, Watson.
It’s time for state-backed online dispute resolution, says Susskind-led CJC group
It is time for a “radical and fundamental change” in the way the courts deal with low-value claims, a major report argues today, calling for the introduction of state-backed online dispute resolution across England and Wales in 2017.
Separate business rule reform will “unlock” competition and innovation in legal market
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has given “qualified support” to plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to rewrite the separate business rule. The panel said the existing rule had “fallen into disrepute”.
Nobody gets what they want as BSB “subverting the rules” case heads back to Visitors
Appeal judges have decided that a disciplinary case in which they found a Bar Standards Board official responsible for “subverting the rules” on disclosure should return to the Visitors to the Inns of Court.
High street first as multi-office firm takes £5m investment and targets legal aid growth
McMillan Williams, which has 20 offices in London and the south of England, has become the first high street law firm to take external investment after securing a £5m private equity deal.
Law firm replaces annual leave entitlement with groundbreaking ‘paid time-off’ policy
East Anglian practice Ashton KCJ has become what is thought to be the first law firm in the UK to introduce a ‘paid time-off’ policy, which focuses on productivity rather than time in the office by allowing all salaried employees to take the holiday they need without the constraint of a set number of days per year.
Saga lampoons ‘jargony’ lawyers in first legal services TV adverts
Over-50s company Saga has launched the first television advertising campaign for its legal services division, satirising the notion of lawyers being long-winded. There adverts envisage what life would be like if everyone spoke like a lawyer
