Practice Management

Riverview Law has completed a “multi-million” pound deal to buy an American knowledge automation business as part of its plans to develop the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal market. It said the deal to buy CliXLEX was a “major step” towards the creation of ‘virtual assistants’

An innovative Hereford-based alternative business structure has set up a joint venture with a Welsh accountancy firm, joining nine other branded businesses in the Kidwell Group, ranging from a barristers’ chambers to a guest house.

Des Hudson, former chief executive of the Law Society, has left his post as chair of conveyancing portal Veyo, it has been announced. His replacement, Ian Gray, is a ‘turnaround management’ specialist.

Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurers cannot aggregate multiple related claims when the terms of the transactions are not conditional or dependent upon each other, the High Court has decided in a ruling said to protect law firms from financial risk.

A judge has told a litigant-in-person that a road traffic accident she was involved in was not to blame for her failure to secure a training contract. Judge Walden-Smith said the “sad fact” was that many “competent individuals” failed to obtain a contract.

A two-partner central London law firm has succeeded in striking out a professional negligence claim for over £8m. Master Bowles said the claimants had allowed the proceedings to sink into “indefinite abeyance”.

A growing medical negligence marketing network has launched a £1m TV advertising campaign that aims to differentiate itself from other firms that “lack transparency when dealing with clients”. The first instalment of the campaign premiered during an ad break for Coronation Street.

The Law Society’s membership board has approved plans for a long-term campaign to boost the ‘solicitor brand’, which will include bigger businesses and in-house lawyers as buyers of legal services. It is due to be launched next year.

An equal gender balance among practising barristers is “unlikely ever to be achieved” if current trends continue, a Bar Council report has warned. However, there was better news on BAME representation, which is due to hit 20%.

First he allowed solicitors to join, now the founder of RateMyBarrister is relaunching the website as legalbods.com, because “people who need legal advice often ask if anyone knows any good ‘legal bods'”. William Rees said his focus was on obtaining more detailed data from clients.

National Accident Helpline (NAH) and seven personal injury law firms, including Irwin Mitchell, are launching an Ethical Marketing Charter today. NAH will administer the scheme and handle complaints about possible breaches.

A leading QC is to take part in a pioneering free direct access video surgery later this month. Stephen Harvey QC will be discussing business risk and regulation via a new online video platform. The approach has also won the backing of the Bar Council.

Some partners in small law firms are charging £50 per hour – only £10 more than the lowest paid fee-earners, a survey has found. In some firms equity partners took home less than non-partners.

The High Court has dismissed a claim against a firm of solicitors, despite finding it negligent in failing to raise the absence of a covenant in restraint of competition during the purchase of a commercial property. It considered the lengths that a solicitor is expected to go to beyond facilitating the immediate transaction.

An end to a compulsory minimum level of professional indemnity insurance (PII) and replacing the compensation fund with an insurance policy are among the ideas for reform of client protection arrangements put forward by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.