Practice Management

Remote hearings have been a successful emergency measure but should not be taken as establishing a settled mode of operation for the family courts after Covid-19, a leading judge has warned.

Weightmans has become the first law firm to secure Bridging for Innovators funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which will help it develop a legal redaction tool.

A law firm shut down by its regulator last year has been ordered to pay former staff £375,000 for multiple employment law breaches.

An online dispute resolution platform for SMEs and a ‘lawtech sandbox’ were unveiled today as cornerstones of a concerted push to develop digital legal services in the UK.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to look again at whether to close the Solicitors Indemnity Fund – which covers claims made after firms’ run-off cover expires – in September this year.

A former partner at leading midlands law firm Shakespeare Martineau has dropped her claims of sex discrimination after they settled their dispute.

Anxiety among aspiring solicitors has “skyrocketed” due to the Covid-19 crisis, a survey has found, with 75% of trainees and paralegals expecting it to lead to “significant job losses at my level of seniority”.

Legal technology education is focused too much on ‘hot topics’ like machine learning and blockchain, making it “disjointed and ad hoc” in character, a paper for the Legal Services Board has argued.

The High Court has rejected an attempt by well-known Surrey law firm Stevens & Bolton to strike out allegations against it of dishonest assistance, deceit and unlawful means conspiracy.

The physical presence in a sensitive family case of leading counsel shielding from Covid-19 was desirable but “not essential”, a High Court judge has ruled in ordering an in-person hearing.

Women lawyers are worried that the coronavirus crisis is exacerbating inequalities in the profession, with the pandemic hitting them hard, a survey has found.

The Lord Chief Justice has said there will be “no going back” to pre-pandemic days for the courts in their use of technology, predicting a permanent change in the way lawyers operated.

Three law firms based in the UK, USA and Singapore, have invested $10m in a collaboration platform launched this week. Lupl aims to be the world’s first “open industry platform for legal matters”.

A High Court judge has been forced to issue a written ruling because his voice was “breaking up” at the end of a telephone hearing with a litigant in person and the law firm suing her for fees.

Law firms unable to secure professional indemnity insurance because of Covid-19 can prolong the extended indemnity period by agreement and with regulatory approval.