Practice Management

A former fixed-share partner at south-coast law firm Lester Aldridge has lost his appeal against a ruling that he was a partner and not an employee in the limited liability partnership and so unable to claim unfair dismissal.

Solicitors who have a long-standing relationship with a client and receive many instructions are not under an implied general retainer to keep under review all previous advice and drafting, the High Court has ruled.

Our regular news round-up reports on a jailed solicitor’s appeal against his seven-year sentence, an SRA update on PC renewal, Integreon’s new LPO facility, the new Law Society advocacy section, pressure on HSBC over conveyancing and Herbert Smith expanding in Belfast.

There has been a big rise in the number of law firms in distress, with the advent of alternative business structures (ABSs) set to make things worse, corporate recovery specialists Begbies Traynor have claimed.

Twelve large City law firms have registered their interest with a novel recruitment business that places senior lawyers with followings as consultants at law firms, allowing them to run their own practices and keep most of their billings, while drawing on the support and reputation of the firm.

News round-up takes in an important court victory for the Legal Services Commission on legal aid payments, a major survey showing that City lawyer salaries are very much on the up and partners borrowing more to pay tax bills.

The Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority have been granted leave to intervene in a High Court case on whether professional indemnity insurers should be able to effectively cap cover by aggregating claims against a firm – with a bill of £50m at stake.

The fallout from the financial crisis as well as growing threats from the legal process outsourcing industry is making it even more difficult for legal practices to juggle client expectations and fee income, says Peter Collins. Many are looking to manage their own resources more effectively.

There is no regulatory justification for retaining the 30-year-old policy of minimum salaries for trainee solicitors, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. It also admitted to concerns that the Legal Education and Training Review’s timetable is too tight.

The Legal Services Board, Bar Council and 10 top law firms have signed the government’s ‘Business Compact’ on social mobility to end the “who you know, not what you know” culture, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced.

Solicitors and insurers should share equally any exposure to the assigned risks pool in the 2012-13 indemnity year to ensure insurers have “skin in the game”, the Law Society is to urge. However, the profession’s liability could still reach £30m.

People aged 30 or over who choose to re-train as barristers are at a significant disadvantage to younger applicants, according to research from King’s College London. It also confirmed a continuing bias in favour of those with an Oxbridge education, but not gender.

Almost half of partners and staff at the typical top 50 law firm are now on LinkedIn, nearly double the number in 2010, new research has found. It comes as the Law Society publishes the first formal guidance to solicitors on the use of social media.

The legal profession “is not doing enough” to make itself more representative of society, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed yesterday. While “intergenerational social mobility is the principal objective of the Coalition’s social policy”, government cannot do this alone, he said.

Students taking an aptitude test designed to weed out those likely to fail the Bar training course could be given a once-only opportunity to pass, it has emerged, after members of the Bar Standards Board raised questions about the policy of allowing unlimited attempts.