Practice Management

It will be for personal injury solicitors to convince the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that they are not paying referral fees once the ban comes into force, it emerged today as the SRA published its long-awaited consultation on how it will implement the ban.

An online NHS Direct for law, supported by 30 law centre-type operations in key areas around the country, should form the basis of a radical new approach to publicly funded legal services, according to a leading legal thinker.

A Southampton law firm that has set up a business club for entrepreneurs last night won the Law Society award for excellence in innovation. The society’s annual Excellence Awards also saw recognition for QualitySolicitors.

QualitySolicitors this week launches its public attack on ‘faceless’ legal advice provided by new entrants to the legal market and national law firms, with a series of posters across 1,000 billboard and poster sites.

The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) should recruit a high-powered team of young lawyers to vet its proposals and provide fresh insights into the future of the legal marketplace, Professor Richard Susskind has urged.

Law firms will have to adopt a more forceful marketing model if they are to survive in the post-alternative business structure (ABS) marketplace, a specialist in growing online businesses has urged.

Around a sixth of practising solicitors – and a quarter of those working in-house – say they have been bullied in the workplace, according to a survey on wellbeing in the profession. Almost one in five of solicitors suffer from severe stress or worse, the figures also suggest.

Law students believe that alternative business structures will mean more job opportunities but lower salaries and status, according to a survey conducted by the College of Law. It also found that four in ten post-graduate students are shouldering debts of more than £20,000

Some of the country’s biggest legal brands are going head to head on our screens this month after Irwin Mitchell launched its first-ever television advertising campaign, Russell Jones & Walker unveiled a new approach to promoting its Claims Direct brand and QualitySolicitors (QS) started its second round of adverts.

Regulators need to take urgent action to improve the way lawyers handle complaints after a “hard-hitting” new report highlighted multiple failings. However, although clients are often scared to complain, a positive experience when they do can actually make them likely to recommend the provider.

Compensation arrangements for consumers involved in legal transactions that go wrong are outdated and need to be improved, the Legal Services Board has said in calling on its consumer panel to undertake research and provide advice on the issue.

Big Four accountancy firm PwC has launched a new service aimed at helping in-house lawyers look at how they operate internally – and also manage their external legal advice. PwC has hired Stephen Allen, formerly director of innovation at City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, to head it.

The biggest single reason general counsel are dropping law firms is price, according to a survey of top in-house lawyers at major global corporations. Lack of demand and quality of results are featured high up in the list.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has been “hoodwinked” into changing its rules on referrals to financial advisers and risks involving solicitors in the mis-selling of investment products, a former senior financial regulator has claimed.

Legal comparison website Wigster.com has unveiled plans to increase its 100-strong law firm panel five-fold as it seeks to step up its presence in the market. Matthew Briggs, former CEO of Minster Law and Capita Insurance Services, has joined as a director to drive growth.