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The Legal Services Act will play a role in transforming the legal market around the world, with English lawyers well placed to take advantage as a result, Professor Richard Susskind predicted last week. He also gave a preview of his new book – Tomorrow’s lawyers: An introduction to your future.

The fourth edition of the SRA Handbook in less than 10 months was published yesterday. It includes the delay in the introduction of the compliance officer regime, and the SRA has guaranteed that there will be no further hold-ups.

The Legal Services Board has told the Solicitors Regulation Authority that it needs to complete its review of in-house practice as soon as possible because the current regulatory arrangements are not sustainable.

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.

Solicitors Regulation Authority is acting unreasonably by leaving it to in-house lawyers to decide whether the law requires that their legal teams become alternative business structures, the Law Society has claimed.