Practice Management

Inappropriate behaviour by male barristers in robing rooms and at Bar messes “still abounds”, with many women afraid to speak out, the Association of Women Barristers has said.

The SRA could ask law firms to pay for their own research and writing skills tests when hiring trainees, instead of testing them in stage 1 of the new Solicitors Qualifying Exam, it has emerged.

A solicitor’s automated email sign-off sufficed as a ‘signature’ for the purposes of a contract involving the disposition of an interest in land, the High Court has ruled.

The use of cutting-edge technology such as AI has become so powerful that legal regulators will have to regulate the tech itself rather than the providers, according to a prominent academic.

Many courts have not responded to the encouragement of the president of the Family Division to lay down acceptable working practices so as to improve wellbeing, a leading QC has claimed.

A chatbot for people with learning disabilities, tools to help women facing domestic violence, and data-supported advice on employment disputes are among the Legal Access Challenge finalists.

Personal injury law firms are failing to adapt to clients using less traditional methods of contacting them by not responding when clients call them out-of-hours or via Facebook, according to new research.

Refusal by the Solicitors Indemnity Fund to accept notifications of potential claims could be “catastrophic” for retired solicitors, a specialist in professional regulation and insurance has warned.

A former partner suing south-east law firm McMillan Williams over alleged sexual misconduct and harassment has been denied access to any non-disclosure agreements it may have reached.

Well-known law firm Leigh Day has hit back at criticism from “trolls” after it advertised solicitor apprenticeships for six black students of Afro-Caribbean or African heritage.

A damning report into legal technology and access to justice has found the advice sector beset by confusion and fragmentation, with most innovation taking place in the commercial part of the profession.

City law firm Travers Smith is giving away free of charge home-grown email management software in the hope of to stimulating greater co-operation between firms.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service has made “good progress” in transforming some services, but there are still “significant challenges” ahead for the court modernisation programme, the NAO said today.

Big Four accountant Deloitte has launched a pioneering three-year training contract, allowing trainees to study at the University of Law for one day a week and work the remaining four.

There is a “fundamental disconnect” among solicitors between the skills they think they need and the ones they actually need, new research has suggested.