News

A shortfall in the funding of claims management company (CMC) regulation – due to escalating enforcement action and a contraction in the size of the industry – has led to a cash call this month on the 3,000-plus businesses in England and Wales.

The government could face challenges under the Human Rights Act if it presses ahead with the Jackson reforms, a leading counsel’s opinion has warned. Nigel Pleming QC and Colin Thomann of 39 Essex Street said there are “real prospects” of a challenge because of the reforms’ impact on claimants with catastrophic injuries.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is on course to become the first body licensed to regulate alternative business structures, after submitting its application to the Legal Services Board. The CLC, which oversees 10-15% of the conveyancing market, has also applied to extend the range of reserved activities it regulates from conveyancing and probate to awarding rights of audience and the right to conduct litigation.

The Jackson proposals to abolish recoverability are fundamentally inconsistent with justice, skewed towards defendants, and likely to hurt serious injury victims the most, an influential group of law academics has said.

Our weekly round-up of other news takes in further expansion at Co-operative Legal Services, two innovations on the paralegal front, “virtual” firms piloting the SRA’s relationship management, and a tricky decision for LSB chairman David Edmonds

Smaller law firms have bucked the downward trend in fees income recorded by the biggest practices in the last couple of years, taking gross fees to a new record level, research released today has suggested. The report by TheCityUK found that the contribution of the legal services sector to the UK’s GDP has doubled in a decade to 1.8%.

Conveyancing, immigration advice, preparing wills and powers of attorney, and estate administration should all become reserved legal activities, a leading thinktank has recommended. However, the report from the Legal Services Institute – headed by Professor Stephen Mayson – says this work should not be the sole preserve of the legally qualified.

The outgoing Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO), Zahida Manzoor, is to hand over an estimated 600 cases awaiting investigation when her office closes at the beginning of next month, far more than previously thought.

A London chambers has launched a website aimed at encouraging individuals, businesses and even the government to save “a lot of money” by instructing its immigration barristers directly. It is one of the first efforts to actively market public access to the Bar.

The fragmented nature of the conveyancing market has been laid bare by figures showing that nearly a third of the 9,000 legal practices which registered dealings with the Land Registry last year handled 10 or fewer transfers. While MyHomeMove made almost 10,000 applications for transfers in 2010, 834 firms only made one application the whole 12 months, according to Land Registry figures.