Practice Management

Solicitors must think beyond the drafting of non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements to the “impression created” by them, a panel of experts has warned.

HM Land Registry has published how many requests for information it sent to law firms about their applications, with one receiving them in 68% of those it submitted.

More than 40 leading property developers and freeholders – but no lawyers as yet – have signed a government-backed pledge that highlights the duty of conveyancers to act in the best interests of clients.

The charity that publishes law reports for the higher courts of England and Wales yesterday launched a research lab to leverage its archive of law reports in boosting legal innovation.

The first chambers to use a recruitment system which provides ‘contextual’ information to improve diversity is not “virtue signalling”, the head of its pupillage committee has said.

The Land Registry has dropped plans to publish a chart of the top 50 law firms it deals with, ranked by the number of incomplete or erroneous applications they make.

A solicitor has won a claim of sexual harassment against her former firm after one of its partners was found to have tried to kiss her on two separate occasions.

Judges are “embedded” in all the projects that make up the £1bn court modernisation programme and whether hearings are held by video or person will always be a matter of judicial discretion.

Some lawyers have been suffering from “GDPR fever” over the past year and given bad advice based on limited knowledge or too cautious an approach, a leading data protection law specialist has warned.

Lawyers are wrong to think that there are tasks beyond technology that only they can carry out, Professor Richard Susskind has warned. He urged lawyers to help build the machines, not compete with them.

Computers using artificial intelligence could be given separate legal personalities enabling them to own property as the law adapts to technology, a Supreme Court justice has suggested.

A solicitor has failed in his claim for unfair dismissal after he refused to accede to his firm’s request to stop sitting as a deputy district judge because it needed him to focus on the practice.

AI should be developed in conjunction with a wide range of non-technical specialists, while an ‘ethical black box’ showing how a system made particular decisions may also be needed.

The Law Commission has “paused” its project on smart contracts to avoid potential duplication with work being undertaken by the government-backed lawtech delivery panel.

What is defined as harassment in law firms is evolving fast and a telephone call or text that was previously thought innocent might now be considered to be inappropriate, experts have warned.