Practice Management

Video manipulation software, including ‘deepfake’ technology, poses problems for remote courts in verifying evidence and that litigants or witnesses are who they say they are, a report has warned.

Solicitors are generally bullish about the future, despite nearly one in four believing Covid-19 will harm their clients’ prospects and many predicting lower demand for legal services.

The last strict requirement to print and sign a paper document in a property transaction was removed today as HM Land Registry began accepting ‘witnessed electronic signatures’.

Law firms need to have the courage to employ diverse and even abrasive characters who help disrupt the legal sector and ensure it does not fall behind other industries.

For legal firms striving to stand out in a digital age, live chat helps to bring them closer to clients and respond to the changing way people shop and procure legal services.

Hugely acquisitive IT company the Access Group has blown into the legal market by adding DPS Software to its purchase last month of Eclipse Legal Systems, with more deals to come.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to launch a review of its approach to solicitors’ continuing competence, amid calls for spot checks or accreditation schemes to reassure consumers.

The demands of working under Covid-19 has led to an accelerated culture change at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, with lawyers much more willing to adopt tech solutions rapidly.

Online will-writer Farewill has raised £20m as it targets a major expansion in revenue, staff numbers and new services, including powers of attorney.

The Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that a negligence claim brought by a woman against her law firm over its work on her divorce was out of time.

The High Court has upheld a decision refusing two ‘core participants’ in the infected blood public inquiry the right to nominate their own solicitors.

An online service that helps divorcing couples draft their own documents and not use lawyers has received a new round of funding to increase the number of people it can help.

A group of 17 City law firms, including seven of the top 10, have signed a ‘race fairness commitment’ to improve recruitment and retention of black, Asian and minority ethnic lawyers.

A global law firm has predicted that as many as 80% of its workforce will remain transient or permanently working from home after Covid-19, with only around a fifth being full-time office workers.

Automation in the legal profession will most probably be “a decades-long process” but artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining what it means to be a ‘great’ lawyer.