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The last week has seen both a victory and a defeat for lawyer lobbying, and perhaps the most fearsome legal lobbying machine – the Bar – crank into action. The victory came in the surprise climbdown by HSBC over its restricted conveyancing panel. A global banking giant felled by a campaign spearheaded by the Law Society but with strong support from the likes of the Bold Group. It was pursued at a national level, with coverage in several national newspapers, and also at a local level, with solicitors talking to their estate agent contacts.

AIM-listed online conveyancing business In-Deed – which last year became the first business to announce its intention to invest in law firms – has today begun its acquisition programme after admitting that its direct-to-consumer model is not growing as quickly as hoped.

Our latest round-up of news in brief has a breakdown of calls in 2011 to legal support charity LawCare, better news on PII, a defamation battle between two employment law consultancies, developments over conveyancing panels, and SIFA launching a consultancy.

PSG, one of the market-leading providers of property searches and reports to the legal and conveyancing professions, opened the first of the current series of networking events for the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) members in London earlier this month.

Consumer group Which? has added its voice to critics of HSBC’s new conveyancing panel, while the pressure on HSBC has led to the bank revising the controversial undertaking demanded of non-panel solicitors.