Practice Management

A potential new professional indemnity insurer has blamed the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s failure to tackle the market’s problems more quickly as the reason it will not be offering cover to law firms this year.

There are a number of risks and dangers associated with using an aptitude test to select law students – particularly that it will favour those from privileged and certain class and ethnic backgrounds – a report commissioned by the Legal Services Board has concluded.

The great majority of consumers who have used legal services are satisfied with the outcome, although many do not feel they received good value for money, a survey has found. Worryingly for lawyers likely to face competition from trusted brands after October, however, it suggested significant public distrust of lawyers.

There could be several benefits from using an aptitude test to exclude law students who are most likely to fail the legal practice course (LPC), according to a report for the Law Society. However, it said linking a test to the likelihood of gaining a training contract would be “more difficult” to justify.

Face-to-face advice remains important to clients in several key areas of legal work and can help ward off complaints, Legal Services Board research has found. The research by YouGov discovered face-to-face advice most prevalent in family matters and will-writing.

Bar students are set to become the first group offered exemptions from parts of the legal practice course (LPC), it has emerged. However, LPC providers will not be required to offer a discount on fees. The move has been driven by changes to the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme.

An action plan to deal with a range of equality and diversity problems in the solicitors’ profession – from pay inequality and firms’ billing practices, to flexible working and career progression – is being drawn up within the Law Society, Legal Futures can reveal.

Offering would-be solicitors – and particularly paralegals – a route to qualification that does not require a training contract may not be the way to reduce barriers to access to the profession, new research has suggested.

The Court of Appeal has once again declined to follow the landmark House of Lords ruling in Sephton when deciding when the limitation period starts running for the purposes of a professional negligence claim. It is a decision hailed as good news for lawyers.

Legal Services Board chairman David Edmonds is wrong to say there is a “disconnect” between legal education and legal practice, it was claimed last week by the man who has systematically reviewed the Bar’s education and training regime.

A leading supplier of outsourced employment law services to thousands of businesses has itself been found to have unfairly dismissed three legal staff after failing to follow proper redundancy procedures.

The chief executive of national law firm Russell Jones & Walker has questioned the ability of large solicitors’ consortiums to provide clients with a consistent service across the board. Neil Kinsella stressed the importance of independence and consistency.

The Bar Standards Board has approved the latest version of guidance on “signposting” requirements to notify lay clients of their rights to complain about poor service. It hopes the new formula will satisfy both disgruntled barristers and the Legal Services Board.

Lawyers are warming to the use of social media in their practices but have reservations about risks associated with cloud computing, according to a major survey of law firm IT personnel. Three-quarters of the 712 specialists surveyed said they felt positive about social media as a tool to deliver value to their firms.

The founder of property website Rightmove enters the law today with the intention of making his online conveyancing service the market leader within three years, Legal Futures can reveal. It is being marketed on the basis of service quality, rather than price.