Practice Management

The government’s proposed tax reforms for limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are “haphazard”, “incoherent”, backward looking, and would introduce a “bizarre distinction” between business entities, according to the Law Society.

Professional indemnity insurers are starting to shape the UK legal sector as they exert their influence during law firm mergers and acquisitions, experts have warned. Their attitude towards a firm’s target is becoming a significant influence on who buys whom – and who doesn’t.

Some of the country’s biggest law firms are moving closer to establishing stand-alone human rights policies, it has emerged. Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehills are among those working towards creating policies.

An internet marketing specialist has launched a new map directory for public access barristers. Nick Draycott, director of GoDirect2Barristers.com, has adapted online mapping technology to produce a site which he argues offers improved direct access to the Bar.

Lawyers needs to improve their interpersonal skills, be patient, respectful and remove jargon to provide disabled clients with a better legal service, research has claimed. More also needs to be done to advertise legal services to people with learning disabilities.

An online dispute resolution business that spun out of eBay is heading to the UK after receiving a $5m cash injection from venture capitalists. Modria is setting up its European operation in the UK, where it will be headed by solicitor Graham Ross.

A network of 200 law firms which started life as an internet service provider for lawyers has re-launched as the latest referral website for legal services. Lawyers Online went ‘live’ last Friday, and has immediately set itself up in direct competition with existing marketing collectives.

The government’s proposed attack on tax abuse by law firm LLPs and partnerships is “at odds” with its own aim to make the UK the global centre for the wealth management industry, City lawyers have claimed.

A litigation boutique which specialises in complex banking and financial cases is sharing its first year profits with all staff. City firm Signature Litigation set up in 2012 with an innovative profit-sharing scheme promising “transparency” on the firm’s financials from the outset.

A new ‘find a lawyer’ service just launched in America has designs on coming to the UK next year, Legal Futures can reveal. The long-term goal of LawVisors is to be a “legal ecosystem” for lawyers and clients alike.

If you are a partner doing legal aid work, working long hours and from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, then you are probably the most stressed solicitor in the country. That is according to newly published Law Society research.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s reluctance to give detailed guidance to law firms on cloud computing could be because it is “waiting for something to go wrong” before it acts, a report has suggested.

Lemma, the failed Gibraltar-based solicitors’ indemnity insurer, has left run-off claims worth around £25m to be borne by the financial services industry in the wake of its collapse last year, it has emerged.

Defence lawyers bear partial responsibility for miscarriages of justice, and better ethics training and spending time with ordinary people are as likely to reverse “moral decline” as boosting pay, according to new research.

The Law Society last week finally launched its Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme (WIQS) last week with a warning to the profession that it needs to act to halt the fall in its market share. But the likes of the Co-op, AA and Saga will be able to apply for it too.