First legal advice video-link service goes live in Westminster library
The first facility giving library users access to a free consultation with a lawyer via video-link launched in the heart of London yesterday, with both solicitors and barristers now supporting the concept.
Ombudsman tells lawyers: sort out your pricing or risk losing work to "nakedly commercial enterprises"
Lawyers must provide clearer pricing information to their clients or risk losing out to new entrants to the market, the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has warned. LeO today issued a report on the problems issues around cost causes consumers, accounting for up to a quarter of all of its investigations.
Law Society warns Bar off introducing aptitude test for students
The introduction of an aptitude test for prospective Bar students may be premature – and in any case fails to address the “real issue” of the mismatch between student numbers and training contracts/pupilages – the Law Society has told the Bar Standards Board.
Barristers and solicitors at loggerheads over QASA
Barristers and solicitors are at loggerheads over whether plea-only advocates need to undergo judicial evaluation as part of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates. If a resolution cannot be found, then the whole scheme could fall apart.
LSB eyes making immigration work a reserved legal activity
Providing immigration advice and services may need to become a reserved legal activity, the Legal Services Board has suggested. It found that there is likely to be “significant consumer detriment” in the way this work is being regulated at the moment.
Government backs social mobility toolkit for lawyers and other professionals
The government has welcomed the first common framework to measure the progress of social mobility within the professions, which was launched last Friday. The social mobility toolkit was published by Professions for Good.
Lawyers2you targets London as fuss over A-board highlights advertising sensitivity
Lawyers2you is to become the first legal network to take on London when it launches its first franchise in the east of the city shortly, Legal Futures can reveal. The news comes after it faced criticism in the press for an A-board it used in central Birmingham.
SRA agrees third version of Handbook in six months – with another one set for June
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority this week approved the third edition of the SRA Handbook since it went live last October, with a fourth one due before the end of June. The SRA said it recognised the disruption this would cause but argued that the updates have been unavoidable.
LSB chief calls for training review to be radical
The Legal Education and Training Review needs to be radical and permanently separate authorisation to practise from professional titles, the chairman of the Legal Services Board said this week.
Most firms in multiple breach of the Solicitors Code of Conduct, says SRA research
The vast majority of law firms are non-compliant with the Solicitors Code of Conduct, research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found. Most of the 200 firms assessed had four or five incidences of non-compliance.
