Practice Management
Blockchain network aims to provide “missing link” for conveyancing
A house in Kent is the first being sold using a blockchain network that connects conveyancers with estate agents and mortgage lenders.
Public supports stronger ongoing competence checks for lawyers
There is near unanimity among the public that lawyers should have to demonstrate more actively than now that they remain competent throughout their careers, the Legal Services Board has found.
Pregnant trainee fails in claim over no post-qualification job offer
A solicitor who claimed she was not offered a job after completing her training contract because she was pregnant has lost her discrimination claim in the employment tribunal.
Child sex offender loses appeal based on inadequate legal advice
The Court of Appeal has rejected the claim that a man convicted of a sexual offence after a police officer posed online as a child was given inadequate legal advice.
Regulator intervenes over concern about “PII market failure”
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has had to intervene after two professional indemnity insurers offered firms cover that did not comply with its minimum terms.
SQE will “move the bottleneck” from law schools to employers
The Solicitors Qualifying Exam will make it easier for people to qualify as solicitors but move the “bottleneck” to newly qualified roles, a leading academic and the training head of a major law firm have predicted.
Susskind: “Harder than expected” to reduce legal work to lawyer-free process
The extent to which legal work can be reduced purely to administration and process has been overstated and in fact “lawyers are needed for all legal jobs”, Professor Richard Susskind has acknowledged.
City lawyers “need help from their firms” to engage with technology
Lawyers have been reluctant to engage with technology partly because law firm partners haven’t given junior staff enough time to learn how it can help them, according to a government-backed report.
Signs of progress as courts support barrister’s childcare responsibilities
A barrister has spoken about her “really positive” recent experiences of courts accommodating “the practicalities and balancing acts being carried out by those with children”.
Structured data format a “great step forward” for digital contracts
The Master of the Rolls has hailed the launch of a universal structured data format for the creation of digital contracts as a “great step forward”.
Licensed conveyancers review insurance scheme as market hardens
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has announced a review of its professional indemnity insurance arrangements in light of a hardening market for cover.
Supreme Court lays out “new legal roadmap” for professional negligence
The Supreme Court has provided a “wholly new legal roadmap” for professional negligence after its ruling last week in two linked cases, the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association has said.
Office attendance limit “will avoid new type of presenteeism”
A global law firm’s post-pandemic plan to compulsorily limit office attendance will stop women working remotely suffering from present colleagues receiving better assignments.
Digital courts take next step forward with damages claims pilot
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has launched a pilot scheme that allows lawyers to manage and progress the initial stages of certain civil damages claims online.
Gateley criticised for not protecting client data
A law firm specialising in data breach litigation has criticised Gateley for not keeping client data safe in the wake of the cyber-attack it suffered earlier this week.
Blog
What LeO’s data tells us about client service in personal injury
With court backlogs, insurer delays and increasingly complex cases, maintaining client care in personal injury work can be difficult, but the data suggests the industry is falling short.
Your landlord clients have prepared for the wrong law
Lawyers advising major landlords and build-to-rent operators have spent the better part of a year on the Renters’ Rights Act. A good deal of that advice has been aimed at the wrong risk.
Your website is losing clients before they even pick up the phone
Your website visitor is likely already carrying stress before they arrive. If your site adds to it rather than relieves it, you have likely lost a prospective client.
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