Jordans recruits senior in-house lawyer to spearhead ABS
Corporate services provider Jordans has turned to the head of legal at a leading business process outsourcer to spearhead its planned alternative business structure. Debbie Farman, formerly legal director of Vertex, will lead a team of lawyers, paralegals and corporate compliance experts.
SRA: new ‘growth duty’ could give rejected firms and individuals stick to beat us with
Government plans to subject regulators to a duty to have regard to growth could lead to challenges of any decision to refuse approval of a new law firm or alternative business structure, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned.
Exclusive: legal advice charity becomes first not-for-profit to set up an ABS
A legal advice charity in Leicester has become the first not-for-profit organisation to set up an alternative business structure (ABS), Legal Futures can reveal. The Community Advice and Law Service has won approval to launch Castle Park Solicitors Community Interest Company.
Reed Smith thinks big by signing up to major work experience initiative
US/UK law firm Reed Smith becomes first legal practice to sign up to a major initiative aimed at opening up access to work experience opportunities to anyone with an Internet connection. The firm has joined the likes of ITN, Capgemini, MediaCom, ZenithMedia, Channel 4 and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen.
Last-ditch bid to delay QASA rejected as Deech argues for necessity of scheme
A last-minute Law Society bid to delay the controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) until after the government’s consultation on price competitive tendering for criminal work was yesterday rejected by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
“Pointless” consultation to set out SRA plan to pay soaring intervention costs from compensation fund
Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to consult on whether the cost of interventions in failing law firms should be borne by the Compensation Fund have been queried as pointless because there is no realistic alternative.
New duty to support growth should not allow regulators to block “risky business models”
A proposed statutory duty on frontline regulators to consider economic growth must not be used to probe the business plans of new entrants to the market or block “risky business models”, the Legal Services Board has cautioned.
SRA survey: quarter of lawyers were privately educated
The inaugural diversity survey of people working in solicitors’ firms has found that more than a quarter of lawyers went to fee-paying schools – nearly four times the national average. Meanwhile, a review of law firms’ approach to diversity has found clients pushing the agenda.
‘Click and collect’ law firm eyes major expansion after ABS licence award
A law firm offering ‘click and collect’ legal services plans to double in size after securing its alternative business structure licence. Leeds firm Winston Solicitors originated as an online-only legal practice from managing partner Jonathan Winston’s spare room 10 years ago.
SRA set to relax rules on non-material breaches as nearly 1,000 firms face COLP/COFA action
Requiring all 10,000 law firms to report non-material breaches to the Solicitors Regulation Authority is “unsustainable and cannot be justified”, the regulator’s board will be told today. Meanwhile, the number of firms and individuals facing action over COLP/COFA nomination failures has risen to 928.
