News

MPs last night rejected a bid by former justice secretary Jack Straw to make paying referral fees in personal injury cases a criminal offence. Debated during the report stage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, they voted 302 to 208 against.

Satellite litigation over the Jackson reforms is inevitable – and may not be a bad thing, a gathering of the leading figures in legal costs and funding heard this week. Legal Futures had exclusive access to the event, held to discuss implementation of the reforms.

Last week’s High Court ruling on the rates before-the-event legal expenses insurers should pay non-panel law firms “does not provide a blank cheque” to solicitors, a leading provider has warned. But ACL chief says it offers new opportunities for solicitors.

Rachel Khiara, formerly a partner at national firm Addleshaw Goddard, has launched her own niche boutique specialising in advising law firms, alternative business structures and other advisers on the new regulatory regime in the legal sector.

The Claims Standards Council, the trade body for claims management companies, has threatened the government with judicial review if it presses ahead with its proposed ban on referral fees in personal injury cases.

The number of law firms being closed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has fallen to a four-year low, new figures have shown. But it has also received a record number of claims for compensation for mortgage fraud in the last quarter.

Lawyers are more pessimistic about the future jobs market than other professionals, despite their salaries and opportunities holding up “unusually well” since the start of the recession, a survey has found.

Claims management companies looking to create legal arms as ABSs could fall foul of Solicitors Regulation Authority rules, a former SRA director has warned, while a leading insurance lawyer cautions over a loophole in the referral fee ban.

A large majority of partners at mid-sized law firms believe their practices need to grow by at least a third over the next three to five years to remain competitive, with many open to the idea of external investment, a recent survey has shown.

Top City law firm DLA Piper has invested in a prospective alternative business structure (ABS) that promises to introduce a “market-disrupting” new approach to providing businesses with legal advice, Legal Futures can reveal.