Innovation is a word much bandied around in the law – on this website more than most – without always a crystal clear idea of what it means. Many lawyers or PR people have called me up over the years to proclaim their latest exciting innovation, only for me to point out that plenty of people have been doing the same thing for ages. Today’s report from the Legal Services Board and Solicitors Regulation Authority, entitled Innovation in legal services, is more generous in its definition of innovation than I am.

A few weeks ago I was asked to speak at a Westminster Legal Policy Forum seminar on the impact LASPO has had on the claims management sector, which attracted nearly 100 delegates. The keynote speakers were Crispin Passmore, executive director of policy at the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, and Kevin Rousell, head of the Claims Management Regulation Unit at the Ministry of Justice. Given only five minutes of talk time, it was difficult to go into depth, but I did get a chance to discuss the management of risk in claimant personal injury firms.

Given the inherent complications in the new tax legislation for fixed-share LLP members, it is tempting to side-step the rules by engaging an individual as a consultant rather than an LLP member. This is particularly the case for LLP members who are nearing retirement and looking to withdraw from the LLP, not take on more risk and increase their investment!

Many at the Bar and beyond will be familiar with the ‘10,000 hours’ theory – put forth by Swedish psychologist K Anders Ericsson and further propagated by popular writer Malcolm Gladwell. That is: the formula for success, in any field, is 10,000 hours of practice. Integral to this, but perhaps less well known, is the notion that such practice needs to be deliberate – carefully structured and executed in a way that will have the greatest results for performance. In other words, quality matters just as much as, if not more than, quantity.

As the post LASPO dust finally starts to settle, there’s been a lot of coverage about the winners (if there are any) and the losers in the new landscape. Is anyone happy? Well, defendant liability insurers are bemoaning the fact that claim numbers are back to pre-quarter one 2013 levels and that the predicted savings haven’t yet materialised.