Practice Management

Consumers believe that a lawyer who has provided a bad service should be “named and shamed”, research released today has found. However, there are signs that consumers are likely to use published information “in a way that may be at odds with the Legal Ombudsman’s reasons for publication”.

Widespread doubts exist among barristers over aspects of the Bar Standards Board’s equality and diversity reforms, it emerged last week at a consultation event on proposed code of conduct rule changes, where concerns were raised over details of proposed monitoring requirements.

Some 342 law firms have applied to join the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) since it opened last month, the Law Society has revealed to Legal Futures. A spokesman said the number is growing rapidly, with around 20 new applications a day at the moment.

The reasons why one law firm succeeds while another doing similar work fails, boil down to knowing your market, committing to your sector and its clients, and the partners’ contribution, according to a legal thinktank.

After nine years heading up his own firm, then merging with another and finally in 2010 returning to practice as a sole trader, Peter Felton of Feltons Law switched to the outsourced accounting and legal software services of Bath-based Virtual Practices and has never looked back.

Our weekly round-up of other news takes in further expansion at Co-operative Legal Services, two innovations on the paralegal front, “virtual” firms piloting the SRA’s relationship management, and a tricky decision for LSB chairman David Edmonds

A temporary extension of cover should replace the pooled liability insurers have for struggling law firms, the Law Society has proposed. The extension of existing cover should be for a minimum of three months and its cost based on the current premium.

Solicitors have no need to investigate an elderly person’s capacity to contract without good reason and any such duty on them would be “insulting and unnecessary”, a High Court judge has said. Mrs Justice Sharp said the claimant had failed to establish that a lack of capacity “would have been evident to a reasonably competent solicitor”.

Solicitors in private practice undertook pro bono work in 2010 estimated at £475m, a rise of 19% on the year before, Law Society research has found. The figure represents 2.3% of the total gross fee income for private practice last year.

Law firms facing a cash flow crunch are sharply increasing their borrowing to meet tax liabilities, a lender to the legal profession has reported. Syscap says loans sought by firms have almost doubled compared to this time last year, as they struggle to meet today’s tax payments deadline.

Scotland’s larger law firms saw a rise in profits last year despite a 11% dip across the profession as a whole, research has found. The Law Society of Scotland’s survey showed that average profits per equity partner fell from £72,000 in 2009 to £64,000 last year. It is the second consecutive drop, from a high in 2008 of £104,000.

Three magic circle law firms are among the first to back an online initiative aimed at helping underprivileged youngsters break into the professions. Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have signed up to accessprofessions.com, a charity website which connects students aged between 13 and 21 with career-enhancing opportunities.

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has passed a complaint to the Criminal Cases Review Commission after a solicitor and a barrister’s errors potentially led to a man’s conviction for theft, in one of 365 cases that the service has informally resolved so far, it has emerged.

The public believes that legal aid solicitors are not as good as other solicitors, research undertaken for the Law Society has found. Focus groups held in London and Birmingham either side of Christmas also revealed that the public think legal aid solicitors are paid private practice rates.

It is not champertous for a solicitor to indemnify his client against paying the other side’s costs in the event of not finding insurance, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. It is thought that law firms may find themselves offering such arrangements more frequently in a post-Jackson/legal aid reform world so as to secure work.