Goodbye SDT? Legal Services Board sets sights on “rationalising” disciplinary regimes
The Legal Services Board is considering whether to consolidate the disciplinary regimes run by all the different legal regulators, it has emerged. Recent events “suggest we should explore the feasibility of rationalising existing mechanisms sooner rather than later”.
Judge upbraids bank and its debt collection agency for conducting reserved activity
A judge has criticised a Manchester debt collection agency and the bank instructing it for conducting litigation in breach of the Legal Services Act 2007, after pursuing an investigation on his own initiative.
Law Society to review pro bono policy in face of legal aid cuts and Legal Services Act
The Law Society is set to examine the future direction of pro bono work in the wake of legal aid cuts, Legal Futures can reveal. It will also look at the role of pro bono in helping distinguish solicitors from post-Legal Services Act competitors and how corporate clients can better understand their legal advisers’ pro bono activity.
Consumer watchdog gives SRA’s ABS application green light – with reservations
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become a licensing body for alternative business structures has been endorsed by the Legal Services Board’s consumer watchdog, but with reservations. The Legal Services Consumer Panel expressed disappointment that some recommendations it made during consultations were not adopted.
Should I tell my client she’s dying?
The latest Question of Ethics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority looks at whether a solicitor should pass on information in a medical report that their client’s cancer is terminal when the doctor says it should not be disclosed.
News in brief: solicitors, barristers and referrers link up, conveyancing boost and more
This week’s news in brief includes details of London law firm EDC Lord & Co, barristers’ chambers 6 Pump Court and referral agency Contact Law launching an online fixed-fee legal advice scheme, ClickLaw24.com.
ABA ethics commission outlines beefed-up outsourcing rules
Plans to clarify the ethics of outsourcing work to lawyers and non-lawyers, and the circumstances in which outsourcing would be wrong, are to be put to the American Bar Association (ABA). The “initial draft proposals” go further than an initial draft published last year.
Regulators change name of advocacy scheme in face of legal threat from education body
The Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and ILEX Professional Standards have been forced to change the name of their advocacy quality scheme after they were threatened with legal action.
There may be trouble ahead: form an LLP without a members’ agreement at your peril
Partnership law expert Peter Garry outlines the significant problems solicitors are storing up by forming LLPs without a written members’ agreement. He explains that many solicitors practising within LLPs are needlessly exposing themselves to potential litigation and considerable financial loss.
Far more merger talk than action among larger firms, survey finds
Merger has been on the minds of three-quarters of large law firms during the past year, but inadequate preparation for the negotiations means few are seeing it through, new research into the 200 practices has claimed.
