News

The Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority have hammered out “a permanent resolution” of their long-running internal governance issues, the pair announced yesterday, ensuring regulation is independent from representation at Chancery Lane.

A new third-party litigation funder has entered the market with “deep pockets” as one of the early players bows out, Legal Futures can report. Managed Legal Solutions has £20m of funding and will even back ancillary relief cases.

The proportion of black and minority ethnic solicitors (BME) named in complaints about conduct to the Solicitors Regulation Authority surged last year, the third year in which the figure has risen. BME solicitors comprised 27% of all conduct complaints.

Is partnership an “inefficient and unattractive” structure that should be ditched to survive in the new legal marketplace, or is it a viable current model with much to offer lawyers wanting flexible governance and discretion? Both sides were put at a conference this week.

AIM-listed In-Deed has today become the first business to announce its explicit intention to invest in law firms. The company is looking for approaches from “successful and profitable provincial legal practices” to help make In-Deed a leading consumer legal brand.

Solicitors paid £256m for the compulsory layer of professional indemnity insurance – the highest amount since the first year of buying insurance on the open market – Solicitors Regulation Authority figures have shown.

Large law firms are focusing more on partner performance, new research has found, with a greater share of profits for those who perform well in the current financial year, but demotion for those who do not.

The justice secretary yesterday accused lawyers of lobbying for their own financial interests as MPs rejected amendments to the Jackson and legal aid reforms going through Parliament. A bid to halve the RTA portal fee was rejected but action on the issue promised.

A law firm has escaped with a reprimand after being found by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to have breached professional practice rules in connection with intimidating letters sent to alleged Internet file sharers. It is the third firm to face SRA action over this.

Co-operative Legal Services has issued a major signal of intent by recruiting two leading solicitors to launch a family law service next year: Jenny Beck and Christina Blacklaws of TV Edwards, who both hold significant roles in the profession.