News

The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler has called on Prime Minister David Cameron to scrap the Jackson reforms, saying they were only able to sue the News of the World over the phone-hacking scandal because they did not have to pay for after-the-event insurance.

The first law firm franchise formally opens for business today under the face2face solicitors brand. The plan eventually is to have 600 franchises across England and Wales as part of a national legal brand. More are set to open by Christmas.

The controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates may now be subject to a full pilot, it has emerged, at the same time as criminal barristers are up in arms at Legal Services Commission plans to use the scheme to end payments for QCs, which they say threatens its whole future.

A leading law firm and an accident management company have joined forces to offer insurance companies and brokers a ‘white label’ alternative business structure combining legal and non-legal operations to revolutionise motor claims processes.

City firms’ concerns over the international rejection of alternative business structures can be overcome quite easily, a Legal Services Board study has concluded – but they are not interested in ABSs anyway, confirming the findings of a host of other surveys and reports.

Solicitors do not trust their regulator enough to raise concerns with it or think it will act if they do, the Law Society has claimed, offering to act as a formal conduit between the two. It also accused the Solicitors Regulation Authority of acting in a way that can seriously damage a solicitor’s reputation

The lawyer behind a new outsourcing venture that recruits trainee solicitors and then seconds them to law firms and in-house legal departments to do their training contracts has been defending the model from a volley of instant criticism.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is formulating a whistleblowers’ charter and leniency scheme for those who reveal misconduct at law firms and alternative business structures, Legal Futures can report. Co-operation will be accepted as mitigation.

The High Court has rejected a leading disability charity’s bid to judicially review the way the government consulted on implementing the Jackson reforms. The Spinal Injuries Association was supported in its action by other victims’ groups.

Around half of Europe’s 1.4m legal professionals should receive training in European law and other member states’ legal systems by 2020, the European Commission has said. It also wants all lawyers to have at least one week’s training in EU law during their careers.