News

Poor communication between lawyers and their clients was “writ large” as a theme running throughout cases brought to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) in its first six months, the chief ombudsman has reported. It launched nearly 4,000 investigations by the end of March, from more than 38,000 calls.

The Legal Services Board is to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that the Law Society – through the Solicitors Regulation Authority – become an alternative business structure licensing authority. However, there has been a disagreement over the separate business rule.

The Legal Services Board is to reduce its funding call on the legal profession after coming in under-budget for the 2010/11 financial year. The news comes as the Law Society revealed a £57m surplus for 2010 and that chief executive Des Hudson enjoyed a 14% pay rise.

In-Deed, the new online conveyancing service from Rightmove founder Harry Hill, is eyeing up expansion into the will-writing and personal injury market. The company listed on AIM today with a market capitalisation of £8.6m.

Just 3% of consumers rate a recognisable brand such as Tesco, the Co-operative or the AA as an important factor when choosing a law firm, new research has found. However, the survey of 500 consumers found that 26% would nonetheless go to one of those three brands for legal advice – but 74% would choose a traditional law firm.

A pilot project intended to control the costs of civil litigation, born out of Lord Justice Jackson’s reforms, will launch in Mercantile and Technology and Construction Courts nationwide in October following the success of the first stage of the programme in Birmingham.

Face-to-face advice remains important to clients in several key areas of legal work and can help ward off complaints, Legal Services Board research has found. The research by YouGov discovered face-to-face advice most prevalent in family matters and will-writing.

Bar students are set to become the first group offered exemptions from parts of the legal practice course (LPC), it has emerged. However, LPC providers will not be required to offer a discount on fees. The move has been driven by changes to the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme.

The Jackson reforms have overcome their last hurdle to being presented as part of the Justice Bill later this month, Legal Futures can reveal. An amended impact assessment has been approved by the Cabinet Office’s regulatory policy committee after it gave the original version a “red card”.

A new third-party litigation funder launches today with five UK cases already funded and significant backing from a leading private equity firm. Vannin Capital has committed £8m in facilities to fund seven cases in total, including one international arbitration and one US claim.