Practice Management

Law firms currently in the assigned risk pool (ARP) have paid just 22% of their insurance premiums, while insurers are rapidly increasing the reserve for claims these firms may cause, it has emerged. The 262 firms currently in the ARP were liable for £7.5 million in premiums – both record figures – of which just £1.7 million has been paid.

The Law Society has told the 2,911 law firms which have their professional indemnity insurance with Quinn that they do not need to take action at the moment, despite a warning that they may have to seek fresh cover within four weeks of the company’s provisional administration being confirmed.

With the Legal Services Act reforms on the horizon, Colin Loth, Manager of Legal at international recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark, discusses the impact the Act will have on the job market and talented legal professionals.

Research this week from Plan-Net showed that 42% of UK businesses are planning to roll out Windows 7 in the next 18 months. However, only 6% of the surveyed City organisations with at least 250 users have already installed Windows 7, while 24% are not thinking about rolling out Windows 7 at all and 20% have not decided what to do. This raises important questions about upgrading infrastructure and refreshing hardware which was skipped in the year of the credit crunch.

A majority of consumers expect good law firms to offer their services online in the next couple of years, a survey of over 2,000 people has shown. It also showed that nearly half of consumers would be more likely to choose a firm that offered online access.

The Provision of Services Regulations contain provisions as to the information which lawyers must give to clients and customers. Duncan Finlyson of Lawyers Defence Group outlines their implications

Duncan Finlyson of Lawyers Defence Group considers the implications of a recent Court of Appeal ruling that allows the court to reopen the decision to report suspicions of money laundering.

The Conservatives will move quickly if elected to consult on plans to consolidate all solicitor client accounts in one place and apply the interest that accrues to the legal aid fund, Legal Futures can reveal.

Lawyers should undergo five-yearly competence testing, as well as face peer review of the advice they provide clients, the chairwoman of the Legal Services Consumer Panel has said.

Jenny Jones, an accountant with years of experience in pricing legal services at City giant Linklaters, has joined law firm consultancy Jomati.

In the first entry into the PR and marketing section of this website, Alastair Moyes, a director at Legal Futures Associate Marketlaw, says ‘marketing’ encompasses far more than many lawyers think.

This decade will see the emergence of a new wave of global law firms, driven by the accelerated worldwide legal needs of the largest companies, new research has predicted. It suggest an increasing role for outsourcing as clients become more sophisticated.

Patricia Wheatley Burt (FCIPD), a director of Legal Futures Associate Trafalgar, argues that firms need to develop strategies to retain older lawyers, for everyone’s benefit.

A solicitor has good reason to terminate a retainer if a client insists on putting forward a case and instructing counsel to advance contentions that they do not consider properly arguable, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

There should be a new core duty on financial management, along with requirements that firms disclose financial problems to their regulator, in the Solicitors Code of Conduct, the SRA has been advised.