Practice Management

The relationship between large law firms and general counsel is likely to evolve in three phases, with the “endgame” around five years away, Professor Richard Susskind has predicted. He also expects the large accountancy firms to return to the arena.

Legal publishing giant LexisNexis has become the latest entrant to the automated document assembly market with the launch of LexisSmart. It will next month be linked up to the company’s LawyerLocator referral service so that customers can seek a lawyer review of documents.

Clients view fixed fees and online access to the progress of their case – but not brand names – as key elements of legal services they would buy, according to unique new research, while law firms are waiting for competitors to close under pressure from ABSs and legal aid.

The spiralling costs of legal services is prompting some leading general counsel to consider a “production line” approach to handling legal work, with more companies looking to go offshore or in-house, according to new research from an Oxford professor.

The Law Society could encourage firms to undertake annual pay audits as a way to combat inequality in the solicitors’ profession, we can reveal. It comes as Chancery Lane prepares to publish a flexible working protocol to help law firms embrace the concept.

The number of incorporated law firms has risen sharply in the past year, with more than a fifth of legal practices now limited companies. According to Solicitors Regulation Authority figures, 2,400 of the 10,973 law firms as of July were incorporated companies, compared to 1,898 a year before – a rise of 26%.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has welcomed the suspension of a solicitor who failed to pay his assigned risks pool premium as it vowed to step up enforcement efforts against other such firms with the end of the indemnity year looming.

Smaller law firms are set to have more choice for the professional indemnity insurance this year after Legal & Professional Insurance entered into an agreement with broker Marsh to target practices with two and three partners.

Strong law firms are getting stronger while the weak are getting weaker as traditional sources of legal work dry up, a new survey seen exclusively by Legal Futures has concluded. The National Solicitors Selling Survey also found that more than half of firms surveyed saw ABSs as a threat.

A London barrister has launched an online referral service that passes instructions to public access barristers as well as solicitors. Karen Taylor, head of Themis Chambers, runs Find A Legal Specialist, which filters the needs of potential clients – including the complexity of the case – through a series of questions.

The largest provider of professional indemnity insurance to solicitors has announced that it will not be seeking any new business this year because of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s failure to abolish the assigned risks pool immediately.

A law firm in Blackburn will next week launch a campaign to make legal services more accessible to deaf people as part of its efforts to become what it says is the only law firm in the country for the deaf and hard of hearing. Joseph Frasier Solicitors’ campaign is called “Representing your right to be heard”.

A new professional indemnity insurer has entered the market, targeting conveyancing firms of up to 10 partners. In a move that will be welcomed by a sector of the profession that generally has minimal choice of insurer, First Title Insurance has joined forces with INK Underwriting Agencies Ltd.

Law firms and chambers whose workforces are significantly at odds with the make-up of the wider profession can expect questions from their regulators, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has warned. The LSB today confirmed that it is pressing ahead with controversial plans to make firms and chambers survey and publish the levels of diversity and social mobility in their workforces.

The Legal Services Board (LSB), Law Society and Bar Council have thrown their weight behind a best practice code aimed at stamping out bias in granting internships and improving social mobility for disadvantaged students. Meanwhile, LSB chairman David Edmonds has criticised the idea of restricting access to training to deal with the oversupply of bar students.