SRA board moves to solicitor/lay parity with appointment of ex-LCS chief
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority this month moved to parity between solicitor and lay ordinary members, ahead of introducing a lay majority in two years’ time. Shamit Saggar, the former chairman of the Legal Complaints Service, joined the board this month as part of a deal with the Legal Services Board.
Personal injury bucks double-digit slump in civil litigation
Low-level personal injury claims bucked the trend that saw a dramatic double-digit dip in the volume of civil litigation during 2010, Ministry of Justice figures have shown. The 2010 statistics show an almost universal fall in the volume of work going through all levels of UK civil courts last year.
High Court ruling boosts solicitors facing hearsay evidence in disciplinary proceedings
Solicitors facing disciplinary proceedings could find it easier to challenge hearsay evidence after the High Court ruled that a General Medical Council panel had breached the claimant’s right to a fair hearing by admitting such evidence.
LSB may call time on separate business rule over fears it could inhibit ABSs
The rule which prevents solicitors and in the future alternative business structures (ABSs) from hiving off unreserved legal work into unregulated businesses may stifle new entrants to the market, the Legal Services Board has warned. The board is now considering a review of the rule’s “continuing relevance”.
“Legally Speaking” website to engage with consumers as panel survives quango cull
The Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board have begun work on creating an online “virtual community” for consumers known as “Legally Speaking”. The news comes as we can reveal the Legal Services Consumer Panel has escaped the “bonfire of the quangos” – just as the panel’s chairwoman is stepping down.
Law Society rejects just eight firms from CQS as applicants top 1,000
Just eight applicants to the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme have been rejected, it has emerged. The number of applicants has now passed 1,000, of which 317 have so far been approved. But Law Society chief executive Des Hudson has told Legal Futures that the scheme’s credibility would not be judged on how many are rejected.
Top firms “starting to worry” about competition from ABSs, says survey
Competition from alternative business structures has emerged as a significant worry to top law firms, a new survey has shown. While the finance directors at the top 100 firms were most concerned about the impact on profitability of downward pressure on fees from clients, 46% said the consequences of deregulation are a high or medium risk to profits.
Fulbrook targets new approach to third-party litigation funding
A new third-party litigation funder is bringing together a unique mix of professionals and businessmen to support a range of claims that funders have so far ignored, such as human rights, environmental and class actions. Fulbrook Management is also focusing on using funding to support women in the law.
£3m scheme to help disadvantaged students into law is “showing results”
A groundbreaking scheme aimed at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are interested in a legal career is helping them with their university ambitions, new figures have shown. Students who have gone through the £3m Pathways to Law scheme are more successful in gaining a place at a top university than a comparator group that has not.
Want to float your law firm? You need a business worth at least £75m, says banker
Law firms will need a turnover of at least £75m to list on the stock exchange, a leading investment banker said this week. This is because “the public markets prefer larger businesses at the moment” and smaller ones may struggle with liquidity.
