News

The largest provider of professional indemnity insurance to solicitors has announced that it will not be seeking any new business this year because of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s failure to abolish the assigned risks pool immediately.

The benefits of outcomes-focused regulation could be thrown away if the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) fails to provide “safe harbour” advice on how law firms plan to comply with the new rules, and transparency on how it will deal with breaches, the Law Society has warned.

A law firm in Blackburn will next week launch a campaign to make legal services more accessible to deaf people as part of its efforts to become what it says is the only law firm in the country for the deaf and hard of hearing. Joseph Frasier Solicitors’ campaign is called “Representing your right to be heard”.

A code of conduct that aims to add stability and credibility to the market for third-party litigation funding could be agreed in less than three months after four years of stalled progress, Legal Futures can reveal. The Civil Justice Council has drafted in Irwin Mitchell senior partner Michael Napier to chair the working party that has been trying to draft a code since 2007.

A chorus of complaints about comments made on ITV’s This Morning by Amanda Holden when promoting QualitySolicitors (QS) led to a clarification being broadcast on Friday. Solicitors were particularly incensed by what they saw as an implication that non-QS firms would rip consumers off.

The NHS Litigation Authority paid out £195m in costs to claimant clinical negligence lawyers over the past year, a rise of 61% on the previous 12 months, its annual report has revealed. Defendant lawyers also saw their costs shoot up 47% to £62m.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has hit back at opposition from the Lord Chief Justice and the Law Society to its application to grant rights to conduct advocacy and litigation. The Legal Services Board is currently considering the CLC’s application, and as one of its statutory consultees, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge has expressed his total opposition.

The RTA claims portal processed around 25% more claims than anticipated during its first year of operation – with more than 630,000 claims submitted to compensators – as the system’s behaviour committee prepares to approach regulators to help stamp out bad practice by users.

Government plans to reduce the amount of litigation in the county courts by introducing mandatory pre-action directions will undermine the constitutional principle of access to the courts, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has warned. The news comes as the CJC’s role in implementing the Jackson reforms has also been revealed.

Law firms are not doing enough to train staff in risk and compliance matters, a leading expert on partnerships has warned – adding that practices must “get their houses in order by October 2011” to be ready for the new regulatory requirements.