As the Queen starts to relax after her Christmas broadcast and I rise with a flush in my cheeks to carve our Cambridge Bronze, I will spare a thought for our cherished legal profession. Like the bird beneath my knife, it has had a good stuffing this year. An ecologist once said that if you want to save a species, simply decide to eat it. The turkey is living proof of this but I’m not sure the appetite for law firms is quite as strong. So is it only law firms with plenty of meat on their bones that will survive in 2017? In my view, not necessarily.

Throughout our 2016 CPD series ‘Because You’re Worth It’, we spoke to a number of solicitors about the initiatives they’ve tried to showcase the success of their law firm. Here is a round-up of some of the best and most popular ideas. First, take every opportunity to celebrate your milestones. Whether you’ve been in business for 25 years, just completed your thousandth property transaction, or opened a second office, it’s important to celebrate your milestones as and when they arise.

Conveyancers are under pressure. The post-recession revival in the property market has meant a boom in activity in the last few years, dampened only slightly in the past few months as a result of the referendum on EU membership. This is good news for the property industry, for anyone looking to move up the ladder or downsize, and for the economy as a whole – long may it continue and let us hope 2017 sees some post-referendum gusto return to the property market. However, what is much less widely known within the conveyancing industry – though many firms will recognise the effects – is that this extra workload is actually being delivered by fewer individuals.

With cyber-crime making the headlines more and more frequently, it is becoming increasingly important that law firms of all sizes understand how to handle such a situation professionally and keep their reputation intact. Here are some steps any law firm can take to help ensure that a cyber-attack or data breach doesn’t cost them their client base.

What are our considerations when looking to buy home or car cover? I would imagine price would certainly be amongst the considerations, but I’m confident that we would each weigh up whether or not our chosen insurer could meet any claims we might bring, and perhaps as importantly, whether they’d provide us with a hassle-free claims process were the worst to happen. Legal expenses insurance should be no different.