News

Unrated insurers continued to share more than a fifth of the professional indemnity insurance market at the last renewal round, while the Solicitors Regulation Authority mulls whether to force them to ‘get rated or get out’ of the business.

A virtual firm launched yesterday which hopes to attract 50 corporate and commercial lawyers billing a total of £15m a year by 2019. Carbon Law Partners aspires to the success of virtual law firms such as Keystone Law and Setfords.

The Law Society found itself at loggerheads with the Legal Services Consumer Panel last week after the pair placed themselves on opposite sides of the debate over who should run the process of choosing the chairman and board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s preferred alternative to the continuing professional development system is too hands-off to be relied upon, according to the Legal Services Consumer Panel.

The Legal Ombudsman has revised its target costs for resolving complaints downwards for the next financial year, which if achieved would be almost 20% lower than a year ago.

Profits were up last year and confidence is buoyant for the coming year among small and medium-sized law firms, according to a major benchmarking survey. Nine out of 10 firms surveyed thought profits would increase during 2014.

A tiny number of criminal advocates has so far signed up to the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), suggesting a profession-wide boycott of the scheme is holding.

Senior civil servant Sir Michael Pitt will take over from David Edmonds as chairman of the Legal Services Board (LSB), it has been announced. Mr Pitt has no legal background and was chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate for three years from March 2011.

A Law Society guide to criminal legal aid after the cuts has laid bare the scale of the hurdles facing firms that wish to stay in the market and advised they choose one of three options: merger or acquisition, joint venture or collaboration.

Three-quarters of the recommendations made by the 2012 Browne report into the disciplinary regime for barristers – sparked by irregularities over appointments to the disciplinary panels – have so far been implemented, according to a Bar Standards Board report.