Practice Management

The “hackers, hustlers and hipsters” of legal tech hackathons are “not enough” to solve the “intractable problems” of access to justice, a leading legal researcher has argued.

Barristers will be able to make anonymous reports of bullying and harassment by their colleagues and judges after the Bar Council signed up to an online tool to aid the profession.

The government has provided an extra £250,000 in funding for the Legal Access Challenge to double the number of finalists in and winners of the competition.

The Law Commission has paved the way for video witnessing of deeds by calling on the government to set up an industry working group which could consider the matter.

A solicitor who resigned without notice was in breach of contract, an employment tribunal has ruled after finding that it was not a case of constructive dismissal.

BPP has become the first law school to reveal details of a new conversion course aimed at getting students through the first stage of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.

A high-level advisory panel of experts has met to consider the first steps in how to conduct an over-arching evaluation of the government’s £1bn court reform programme, expected to produce an interim report within two years.

The outgoing chair of the Criminal Bar Association has criticised senior judges for failing to follow their Family Division colleagues in adopting email and sitting hours protocols to aid wellbeing.

An employment tribunal has refused to reconsider a decision that comprehensively rejected a disability discrimination claim brought by a paralegal who worked for well-known personal injury firm Ralli.

A UK-based magic circle practice is among five law firms to be the first to launch a platform aimed at simplifying the job of adopting advanced legal technology by filtering out products that are unproven,  inefficient, or insecure.

Partners and fee-earners in law firms which have closed should give “careful thought” to buying additional run-off cover to protect them when the Solicitors Indemnity Fund closes next year.

The chair of the Criminal Bar Association has called on the senior judiciary to extend wellbeing protocols being drafted for the family courts to the criminal jurisdiction.

There is as yet “no clear answer” to the question of whether an online court will facilitate easier access to the court system, research has found.

Law firms have shared details of how being mentored by larger practices has helped them make their workplaces more friendly to LGBT solicitors, staff and clients.

The breakdown of how the £700,000 of government money awarded to the SRA to run the Legal Access Challenge has finally been published, with nearly half of it going to partner Nesta Challenges.