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An online NHS Direct for law, supported by 30 law centre-type operations in key areas around the country, should form the basis of a radical new approach to publicly funded legal services, according to a leading legal thinker.

The possibility of the Law Society and other representative bodies being cut off from any of the money raised by practising fees has been raised by a Legal Services Board call for an “open debate on the cost of regulation”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched a bid to regulate non-lawyer immigration advisers. However, at the same time the body that oversees them – the Office for the Immigration Services Commissioner – is seeking to take over the regulation of specialist lawyers.

Legal Futures is the media partner for the most comprehensive independent survey to date to establish the state of readiness of the legal services sector to respond to the impact of the full compliance obligations in the SRA Handbook. It is being undertaken by Edge International and Khiara Law LLP.

Regulators should empower consumers to drive improvements in the quality of legal services, while professional indemnity insurers could hand over firm-specific claims data to help target poorly performing practices, the Legal Services Board has suggested.

The Legal Education and Training Review needs to be radical and permanently separate authorisation to practise from professional titles, the chairman of the Legal Services Board said this week.

The first-ever secure online marketplace for the referral of legal cases will be launched in March 2012 to help law firms maximise the opportunities from referring business to one and other. ReferMarket™ will enable law firms to protect valued client interests and relationships while growing their business through the sale and purchase of referrals using the trusted ReferMarket™ network and marketplace.

London-based Waterfront Solicitors LLP has transformed its billing efficiency with the move to managing matters and time recording in the ‘cloud’ with the hosted legal software service of Virtual Practices.

Legal technology innovator Peppermint Technology today announces it will support Apple iPad/iPad2 and a range of smartphones including: Windows Phone, Apple iPhone 3GS+, Google Android and RIM Blackberry in its Q2 2012 release of its Legal Service Platform.

LexisNexis UK has announced the launch of LexisPSL Pensions, the latest addition to its legal intelligence product LexisPSL. Designed as a single online resource with both practical guidance and key primary sources, LexisPSL Pensions enables pension lawyers to practice with confidence, work more efficiently and save time.