Practice Management

Statutory guidance that requires legal regulators to move away from assuming would-be lawyers have to spend a certain amount of time training before they qualify was published yesterday by the Legal Services Board.

Key players in the legal profession have welcomed the second phase of a government-backed scheme that will create apprenticeships which for the first time will lead to qualification as a solicitor, while a new apprenticeship in conveyancing will also be developed.

The Law Society has launched an £80,000 project that aims to make it a “more member-focused organisation”, Legal Futures can reveal. Chancery Lane has hired a former head of communication campaigns at insurance giant Aviva to spearhead the work.

The High Court last week rejected Barclays Bank’s application for summary judgment over the liability of a former partner of failed US firm Dewey & LeBoeuf for a capital loan made in his name.

The number of reported attempts trying to defraud the public by using bogus law firms soared by 57% last year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed yesterday as it brought forward publication of a cybercrime guide.

Marketing collective First4Lawyers – which last autumn launched a £10m personal injury advertising campaign – is to open up its panel for the first time as it looks to increase its market share.

A survey of top-100 law firm finance directors has shown the consequences of the recent economic downturn continue to dominate predictions for the future, with regulatory and compliance work forecast to grow fastest and public sector work set to contract the most.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a ruling which excused from liability a law firm which was duped into releasing £150,000 of mortgage funds. It found that the failings of the firm involved in departing from usual conveyancing practice were unreasonable.

Large law firms need to embrace new ways to measure firm and partner performance as traditional methods – such as profits per equity partner – “can be irrelevant, encourage inappropriate behaviours, discourage innovation and tend to be short term in focus”, a leading law firm consultant has advised.

Controversial changes to the taxation of LLPs will go ahead on 6 April, HM Revenue & Customs announced late last week, but has made some small concessions in response to the concerns of lawyers and others – including giving more time to contribute capital.

A commercial legal research website is under development that aims to harness the power of crowdsourcing to generate content and become the starting point for enquiries by law student and lawyers. It has just received £60,000 in private investment.

A long-standing seller of legal documents is set to launch a venture selling simple packages of documents aimed at website developers and people running online businesses.

The High Court has had to unpick the fall-out of the sale of a law firm, with the seller claiming unpaid purchase money and the buyer arguing that the failure to disclose potential legal action against the firm led to sharp increases in the cost of its indemnity insurance.

A London media law firm has become what is believed to be the UK’s first legal practice to accept the virtual currency bitcoin in payment for its services.

An online legal service aimed at small businesses and “democratising the law” has almost completed its second round of ‘crowdfunding’, raising more than £100,000 in less than a month as it targets ambitious expansion.