Company & Commercial

City firm Charles Russell Speechlys has been ordered to pay two former clients nearly £1.5m after a High Court judge found its advice on the sale of their company negligent.

A “standardisation-focused legal community platform” has been launched by the team behind oneNDA, the initiative which created a standard non-disclosure agreement used by 600 organisations.

There is no need for new legislation on smart contracts because the existing laws of England and Wales can accommodate them, the Law Commission has said.

National law firm BLM launched a subscription service for commercial work this week which it describes as “a long-term project which will change the way we work”.

A litigation analytics company is using machine learning to help lawyers predict the outcome of intellectual property cases, in what is believed to be the first move of its kind in the UK.

A virtual legal business based in the UK has launched what it believes to be the first global trade mark search, registration and watching service entirely run by lawyers.

PocketLaw, a start-up aiming to provide a one-stop shop for the legal needs of SMEs, has secured further funding of £1.2m, while an online divorce service has named a top judge as an advisor.

The work of lawyers advising large companies has become harder because clients are not as concerned to protect their reputations as they once were, the solicitor boss of the CMA has said.

Immigration and civil litigation were the two areas of legal practice hit hardest by the pandemic last year, with private client and family law “insulated” from the impact, new research has found.

It is fair to say that there has, for many years, been a “difference of opinion” between the law governing personal insolvency and matrimonial law with each “side” believing that they are right and should take precedence. The principal, sometimes conflicting, legislation is covered in the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. However, the differing courts can and will give wide discretion when determining whether and how a married couple’s assets are to be divided.

A law firm that settled a negligence claim is entitled to recoup some of what it paid from the counsel it instructed, even though proceedings against him were dropped, the High Court has ruled.

An alternative business structure has been launched by a hedge fund-backed business that finances commercial debt recovery litigation, with ambitious plans for expansion.

Mobile telephone giant Vodafone is now offering access to legal services to its 500,000 business customers after signing a partnership with unregulated legal business Sparqa Legal.

Employment and commercial work are seeing the biggest increases in demand from clients, research has found. However, lockdown has had a “devastating impact” on other practice areas.

The High Court has rejected an attempt by well-known Surrey law firm Stevens & Bolton to strike out allegations against it of dishonest assistance, deceit and unlawful means conspiracy.