Solicitors on the hook for £15m in unpaid ARP premiums
Solicitors have had to cover £15m in unpaid premiums of law firms that have been in the assigned risks pool (ARP) during its first 10 years, it has emerged. Of that, £6.1m is for run-off cover for firms that closed without insurance, and the figures reveal that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has collected just £500,000 in run-off premiums since the ARP was set up in 2000.
Internet revolution gathers pace with online legal answers and a Twitter “law firm”
Alternative ways of delivering legal services continue to grow with the launch of two web-based, fixed-fee Q&A services, and what is claimed to be the first Twitter “law firm”. The two websites – www.expert-answers.co.uk and www.questiontheexpert.com – both use panels of qualified lawyers to answer questions put by users, while @thelegaloracle is the brainchild of the founder of personal injury referral network Loyalty Law.
Exclusive: LSB poised to use enforcement powers for first time in “test of credibility”
The Legal Services Board is explicitly threatening the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and ILEX Professional Standards with using its formal enforcement powers for the first time over their quality assurance for advocates scheme, Legal Futures can reveal. The regulators have branded the move as neither “helpful nor necessary”.
Exclusive: leading volume conveyancer goes into administration
One of the country’s leading volume conveyancing firms has gone into administration following the abolition of home information packs, Legal Futures can reveal. While Fridays Property Lawyers Ltd – a licensed conveyancing firm which recently began offering probate services too – has been sold in a pre-packaged sale, there have been an unknown number of redundancies.
Stressed-out lawyers seek help as charity warns of unreported drug problems
Three-quarters of lawyers who sought help with health problems last year complained of stress, support charity LawCare has reported, while warning that drug abuse in the profession is worse than its statistics indicate. LawCare opened 517 new case files in 2010, down from a record 549 in 2009, splitting 60/40 between women and men.
Consumers back barristers providing litigation and the BSB regulating all advocates
Barristers going into competition with solicitors to offer litigation services could reduce costs and make services “more efficient for consumers through packaged delivery”, the voice of legal consumers has said. The Legal Services Consumer Panel also backed the Bar Standards Board as the sole regulator of advocacy services.
SRA slates LSB idea of publishing every agreement with work introducers
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has slated the suggestion by the Legal Services Board that approved regulators should collect and publish all referral agreements between introducers and lawyers, which the SRA estimates run to many thousands.
Spiralling partnership disputes and “partner-exiting climate” encouraging specialist ADR
A spiralling number of partnership disputes is encouraging the development of specialist alternative dispute resolution, experts have said. It has led to the Association of Partnership Practitioners launching a Directory of Partnership Dispute Arbitrators and Mediators.
The impact of the VAT rise on lawyers
Experts at the Institute of Legal Finance & Management explain the impact of today’s VAT rise on billing by solicitors, barristers and other lawyers
OFT opposes will-writer regulation, while banks seek exemption from any new regime
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is opposing the regulation of will-writers, saying it may well be disproportionate and unnecessary. It has also emerged that the OFT is working with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Institute of Professional Will-writers to improve advice to consumers on executor services.
