MoJ slaps away Bar Council call to scrap Legal Services Board
The Ministry of Justice has thrown cold water on the Bar Council’s call to abolish the Legal Services Board (LSB). On Saturday, Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC said the new Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, was sympathetic to concerns that the legal profession is over-regulated.
Estate agent-owned conveyancing businesses become latest ABSs
Two south-east conveyancing businesses owned by estate agents have become the newest alternative business structure (ABS), meaning that more than 50 licences have now been issued by the two ABS regulators.
Bar Council to press "sympathetic" Grayling to scrap LSB
The new Lord Chancellor has said he is “sympathetic” with the notion that the legal profession is over-regulated, the chairman of the Bar Council has claimed as he stepped up his call for the Legal Services Board to be scrapped.
ABS joint ventures to get around referral fee ban will be fine, SRA says
Joint ventures between solicitors and insurance companies as alternative business structures which enables insurers to take in income what they would have received in referral fees will not be caught by the upcoming ban, the Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed last week.
ABS conversion deadline for LDPs under review
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is under pressure to extend its April 2013 deadline for legal disciplinary partnerships with non-lawyer partners to become alternative business structures, after the Legal Services Board said it was “unlikely” to insist on it before 2014.
"Oops – we’re actually not as inefficient with ABS applications as we made out," says SRA
Inaccurate statistics published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority over the past six months have painted a worse picture of its handling of alternative business structure applications than the reality, it has emerged. However, there are still around 150 applications in the system.
Concern over emergence of referral fees once will-writing and estate work is reserved
The regulation of will-writing and estate administration needs to be drawn widely to ensure that the referral fee culture that has prevailed in personal injury does not emerge in private client work, the Law Society has warned.
Survey reveals another headache for COLPs that their firms are ignoring: data security
Law firms should ensure that compliance officers for legal practice are closely involved in information security policies, a study has advised after finding that a majority of firms contacted had already suffered data breaches.
Exclusive: ombudsman decides against allowing third parties to complain about lawyers
The Legal Ombudsman will not allow third parties to bring complaints against lawyers for the time being, Legal Futures has learned. However, it will in future accept complaints from prospective clients, while the limit for compensation will rise from £30,000 to £50,000
From school-leavers to lawyers – CILEx and College of Law strike ‘one-stop shop’ training deal
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) has formed a strategic collaboration with the College of Law to offer legal employers training options for all staff, from school leavers to fully qualified lawyers.
