Practice Management

At a time when firms need to move forward if they are not going to be left behind, fast-growing west country law firm Everys outlines the benefits of integrating case and practice management systems since going live with SOS Connect last year.

The growing interest in so-called virtual law firms has led to one technology provider seeing a 200% increase in customers over the past year. Virtual Practices says it now has hundreds of users for its product, with London start-up Matrix Legal the latest.

Regional law firm Woodfines and Jackson Brierley Hudson Stoney (JBHS) in Rochdale have both selected SOS Connect from Solicitors Own Software to standardise their software, citing the need to prepare for the post-Legal Services Act landscape.

Suspicious activity reports submitted by solicitors have led to the successful prosecution of frauds worth millions of pounds, according to the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Complaints against conveyancers are on the rise, but complaints against personal injury lawyers have fallen dramatically, figures from the Legal Complaints Service have shown.

The move from regulating individuals to regulating entities means threatens to make undertakings less effective than in the past and so recipients need to take extra care, explains Iain Miller of Bevan Brittan.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will this week ask the Law Society Council for around £22 million to invest in a new IT system, Legal Futures can reveal. The ‘Enabling Programme’ will also offer benefits to the wider Law Society but has come in at more than 50% more than estimated a year ago.

Dominic Cullis, chairman of the Legal Software Suppliers Association, considers what alternative business structures mean for high street firms that want to retain their current model and the role IT has in the new legal landscape.

Later this year, the Legal Ombudsman will take over the handling of complaints against all lawyers. But as chief ombudsman Adam Sampson explains to Legal Futures Editor Neil Rose, it is as much about helping lawyers as clients.

Martin Gregory of Solicitors Referrals questions whether paying referral fees is actually the most sensible business model for law firms, despite the appeal of an increased workload.

The Law Society has issued further reassurance to the 2,911 law firms insured by Quinn that there is no reason to fear for the strength of their cover. It came on the same day as the society also issued a practice note on the position if a qualifying insurer goes insolvent.

All lawyers will have to give clients clear information about how to complain, and their regulators will have to monitor that it is done, the Legal Services Board has announced.

Just four law firms featured in the top 60 most visible websites returned when people searched legal terms used Google, research has discovered. An analysis of the 1.2 million searches for legal terms in February found Irwin Mitchell the highest-ranking law firm at 12th, followed by Merseyside personal injury firm Camps (21st), home counties firm Brethertons (48th) and Fentons, a PI firm in London and Manchester (53rd).

The Court of Appeal’s ruling in the Levicom case involving City firm Linklaters last week “will be of concern for City firms and their insurers”, a leading professional indemnity lawyer has warned.

File reviews are generally seen by law firms as something they must implement to ensure they comply but the benefits are so often overlooked, explains Jaunita Gobby of compliance consultancy Legal Eye