News

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The Bar Council is taking leading counsel’s advice on whether referral fees amount to bribes under the Bribery Act 2010 ahead of possibly promoting an amendment to the legal aid bill to ban them, chairman Peter Lodder QC has revealed.

The RTA portal received around 650,000 claim notification forms during its first year of operation, although problems with the system means it is not clear exactly how many claims were lodged. Meanwhile, a pilot to fast-track clinical negligence claims is set to begin next April, it has emerged.

A new online service that allows potential clients to ask solicitors a question for free – and get a response within an hour – is set to launch to the profession shortly. The website, www.rightsolicitor.co.uk, already ranks at the top of Google behind only the Law Society for the words ‘solicitor’ and ‘solicitors’.

A new professional indemnity insurer has entered the market, targeting conveyancing firms of up to 10 partners. In a move that will be welcomed by a sector of the profession that generally has minimal choice of insurer, First Title Insurance has joined forces with INK Underwriting Agencies Ltd.

Law firms and chambers whose workforces are significantly at odds with the make-up of the wider profession can expect questions from their regulators, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has warned. The LSB today confirmed that it is pressing ahead with controversial plans to make firms and chambers survey and publish the levels of diversity and social mobility in their workforces.

Outcomes-focused regulation will go ahead on 6 October even though it is unlikely that the Solicitors Regulation Authority will be able to start licensing alternative business structures “much before the end of the year”, chief executive Antony Townsend has confirmed.

There is a strong consumer protection justification for making the whole conveyancing process a reserved legal activity, Professor Stephen Mayson has argued in the final version of his influential report on the case for reservation. He said the “guarantee” of title registration is incomplete.

The Legal Services Board looks set to force legal practices to gather and publish equality and diversity data, despite concern that the policy could provoke non-compliance and create a false view of the profession because of relcutance to disclose sensitive information such as sexual orientation or religious belief.

Competition over fees, reduced work volumes and other worries will result in far fewer firms specialising in conveyancing in the future, a new survey has predicted. The poll of Conveyancing Association members found them anxious about the future, with alternative business structures and reduced lender panels key sources of concern.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched a formal investigation into the role of solicitors in events surrounding the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Meanwhile, the Law Society has expressed “grave concern” after claims by solicitors that their phones may have been hacked by the News of the World.