Practice Management

The publication of complaints data will be “imperfect”, the Chief Legal Ombudsman has admitted, but it is better than publishing nothing at all and is emphatically not about naming and shaming lawyers.

There are signs of a softer professional indemnity insurance market for some law firms this year, but underwriters are looking to handle alternative business structures with care, a new report has claimed.

Our latest round-up includes the pre-pack sale of a Devon law firm, new business wins for Pannone and Gateley, the merger of big-hitting law firm consultancies, a new PII offering for small firms, and a bogus e-mail warning from the SRA.

There is broad support for an outcomes-focused approach to implementing the ban on referral fees in personal injury cases, according to early indications from the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultation on the issue.

Michelle Garlick, a partner in Weightmans’ professional risk and Compl-i consultancy team, offers common-sense tips on how to handle complaints from clients.

Just over half of conveyancing firms have applied for accreditation under the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme, with those yet to do so unconvinced of the benefits, according to new research.

When I’m out meeting new firms, writes John Thomas of LawNet, all too often when I ask managing partners about the cost of their PII, they do not know. Not many can tell me to the nearest £10,000 and some have no idea at all, having devolved responsibility to the ‘insurance partner’. But is this acceptable in a world of change and challenge, and constant pressure on costs?

Scrapping the ban on solicitors referring clients to tied financial advisers would “make them prey to every tied or multi-tied product salesperson in the land”, leading to massive claims on the compensation fund and negligence actions, the SRA has been warned.

There is a “small but material rate of non-compliance” by solicitors with their complaints-handling requirements – and some bad attitudes towards complaints – confidential research by the Solictors Regulation Authority has found.

Rocket Lawyer, the Google-Ventures backed online legal document service, has today launched its On Call programme into the UK, the first step towards the much-anticipated website going live to the public at the end of the year, Legal Futures can report.

What is possibly the first ever automated brief to counsel has been claimed by unique online legal service Road Traffic Representation. Claire Burtwistle, a barrister at Old Bailey Chambers in London, was briefed by the client through the site.

A groundbreaking new law firm that handles personal injury claims for other practices on a white-label basis has launched in the north-east of England. Questus says it is the first dedicated outsourcing law firm of its type.

The Legal Services Board has approved Bar Standards Board proposals to introduce an aptitude test for prospective Bar students. The test aims to weed out the bottom 10% of candidates.

Axis Specialty plc has become the second new A-rated insurer to enter the professional indemnity market for small law firms in a week. The news comes in the wake of AmTrust Europe Ltd setting out its stall for sole practitioners.

Innovative legal businesses such as Riverview Law, Co-operative Legal Services and Parabis are demanding a new approach to educating and training new lawyers as they create different roles for them, such as project management and data analysis.