Put six lawyers in a room and you may well get nine different points of view on referral fees. But could the end be nigh for this fierce debate, which has split the profession asunder for many years? As the Legal Services Board recognised in its decision last week – and secretly probably hopes – the advent of alternative business structures could render the issue irrelevant.

Alarm bells are ringing in the financial services sector after a finding by the Financial Services Authority against an individual with compliance oversight responsibilities in a brokerage firm. If the Solicitors Regulation Authority, under its new enforcement powers, takes a similar approach, compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and for finance and administration (COFAs) had better beware.

In many ways this week’s launch of online conveyancing service In-deed gives us pointers to the way in which the legal market may develop. The brainchild of non-lawyers, albeit non-lawyers well versed in the conveyancing market, it is slick, jargon-free and professionally marketed. Lawyers will get sick of hearing this word very soon, but it is about creating a brand.

I have written before about the Legal Services Board’s approach to transparency – it demands much of those it regulates but getting information from the board is not quite so easy.

Michelle Garlick, a partner in the professional risk team at Legal Futures Associate Weightmans, considers the changes the SRA is planning to make to the professional indemnity insurance regime and is not surprised that it is not happening as quickly as insurers wanted. But in the meantime they will be reviewing their risk assessments and underwriting criteria very carefully.