Solicitor receives suspended sentence for failure to co-operate with Legal Ombudsman
The High Court has handed a suspended four-month sentence to a solicitor who failed to co-operate with an investigation by the Legal Ombudsman. The judge only held back from committing him to prison because of his personal mitigation.
Top criminal firm eyes joint bidding for legal aid contracts
National criminal law firm Tuckers could look to form consortia with other practices to bid for legal aid contracts, it has revealed. The firm has recently begun offering other criminal law firms access to its back-office services in a bid to generate income, and save costs for smaller practices.
Struck-off lawyer jailed for £8m mortgage fraud
A former registered foreign lawyer at the helm of a criminal gang that defrauded high street banks out of almost £8m by taking out mortgages on properties they did not own was jailed for seven years last week.
Revealed: financial services group set to enter the law with PI firm as 33 stage 2 applications go in
A financial services group is to submit its stage two ABS licence application this week as it bids to add a legal practice to its portfolio, Legal Futures can reveal. It comes as the SRA reveals how many would-be ABSs have filed stage two applications.
‘eBay for lawyers’ goes live as new services target intra-profession referrals
Two lawyer-to-lawyer referral services have gone live. ReferMarket and Lawyer to Lawyer both aim to help firms realise the value of cases they cannot for whatever reason handle themselves, but do so in very different ways.
Firms "getting SEO wrong" by focusing too much on generic phrases
Lawyers are focusing their search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics on the wrong keywords and can convert more work by targeting so-called ‘long tail’ keyword searches, digital marketing experts have claimed.
SRA rejects calls to curb publication of regulatory decisions against solicitors
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rejected calls from the Law Society and practitioners to curb the amount of information it publishes about solicitors subject to regulatory sanctions – despite particular concern over referrals to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
PI firms need scale to survive, says firm pumping £3m into its business
Personal injury firms need scale to survive in future, a Manchester law firm has warned as it gears up for a £3m investment into growing its practice. Express Solicitors is expanding ahead of ABSs, the referral fee ban and the extended RTA portal.
LeO presses ahead with bid to cover claims managers and unregulated legal providers
The Legal Ombudsman is to press ahead with bids to take over complaints against claims management companies, and also extend its jurisdiction to unregulated groups such as will-writers and employment advisers.
'Buy and build' private equity firm targets legal market
‘Buy and build’ private equity firm Sovereign Capital has become the latest to outline its intention to invest in the law, Legal Futures can report. It is looking for a legal business that can act as a consolidator in its part of the market.
