Practice Management

The failure of HM Courts and Tribunals Service to carry the support of lawyers for its ambitious modernisation plans has contributed to failing to meet its timetable, according to Parliament’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office warned that the service was “behind where it expected to be at this stage” of the £1bn reforms

Profit per equity partner is down by 10%, although other performance indicators are up, according to an influential benchmarking report of SME law firms, published today. However, although PEP was down – from £120,000 last year to £108,000 – median fees per equity partner were up by an inflation-busting 5.4% to £539,000 last year.

The government has rolled out its online divorce service after a successful pilot. More than 1,000 petitions were issued through the new system during the testing phase – with 91% of people saying they were satisfied with it and barely any forms returned because of mistakes.

Only a handful of legal professionals believe that artificial intelligence software is more accurate than junior lawyers and thus a reason for implementing it, according to a survey. But over three quarters planned to invest in AI systems within the next two years nevertheless, mainly to remain competitive and provide a better service to clients.

Self-employed barristers are “data controllers” and not “data processors” for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as they need to be able to act independently of instructing solicitors, the Bar Council has said.

International law firm Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) is facing a $100m (£73m) class action over claims that it discriminates against female staff when they return to work after childbirth. Three female associates currently employed at the firm alleged that MoFo subjected them and other female staff to lower pay and delayed advancement.

Two-fifths of junior lawyers have looked for another job as a result of the level of stress their current role is causing them, according to a survey out today. Over 82% of the 959 respondents reported either regularly or occasionally feeling stressed in the month before completing the survey, with 26% of them being severely or extremely stressed.

Failure to make criminal practice – whether for the prosecution or the defence – an attractive career choice will have “long term and detrimental consequences” for the quality of justice, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division has warned.

Twice as many large City law firms had adopted ‘agile working’ policies by the start of 2018 as had a year earlier, and have been quicker than non-law businesses to embrace artificial intelligence technology, according to a survey about office use. Between them, the top 100 firms – when ranked by office floorspace in London – spend a total of £495m per annum on rent.

Small and medium-sized law firms will get free help and advice from some of the biggest firms in the country on how to become more inclusive employers under a pilot scheme launched this month by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A host of leading law firms, the Law Society and universities have teamed up with Barclays Bank to launch the most significant lawtech incubator in the UK to date. The ‘Eagle Lab’ will open soon in Notting Hill, in west London, with the aim of creating a centre of excellence.

A judge has dismissed a claim by a law firm paralegal that he was the victim of disability discrimination, finding he had “dishonestly” altered a document about his medical condition and that, in any case, he had not told his employer about his supposed post-traumatic stress disorder.

A criminal silk was not to blame for a man being convicted of importing and supplying large quantities of heroin, the Court of Appeal has decided. Attique Sami argued that “no competent counsel” would have called a witness who gave “highly damaging evidence” against him involving 230kg of heroin with a street value of over £37m.

A business specialising in trade mark advice and registration must stop claiming to be the “UK’s no.1 trade mark service”, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled. It said Trade Mark Direct made the claim on the basis that it believed it had registered more applications than any other firm in the last three years.

The Serious Fraud Office has bought a document review system backed up by artificial intelligence to improve significantly its document analysis capability – and put out of work barristers who it previously used to identify material subject to legal professional privilege.