Exclusive: “Competition in law is fierce but not working for consumers” – Legal Futures

Posted September 3rd, 2018 in competition, legal services, news by sally

‘The fact that there is a lot of competition in the legal market does not mean it is working well for consumers, the chair of the Legal Services Consumers Panel says in her first interview.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 3rd September 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Unregulated eviction service “crossed line” into litigation – Legal Futures

Posted August 29th, 2018 in legal services, news, repossession, solicitors by sally

‘An unregulated eviction service called Remove a Tenant “crossed the line” between assisting claimants and conducting litigation, a judge has ruled.’

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Legal Futures, 28th August 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Hard Brexit “could cost legal sector £3bn” – Legal Futures

Posted August 22nd, 2018 in international trade, legal profession, legal services, news by sally

‘A hard Brexit could cost the legal sector up to £3bn by 2025, the Law Society has estimated.’

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Legal Futures, 22nd August 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Blockchain and AI “could underpin” future law firms – Legal Futures

‘A future where law firms are ‘distributed entities’ based on blockchain and smart contracts, and lawyers will add value by being “stronger” trusted advisers assisted by artificial intelligence, has been mapped out by futurologists.’

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Legal Futures, 13th August 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Bogus lawyer jailed for “worse than useless” advice – Legal Futures

Posted August 7th, 2018 in legal services, news, sentencing by sally

‘A man who falsely claimed he was fronting a legal business has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for charging £12,000 for advice a judge described as “worse than useless”.’

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Legal Futures, 7th August 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Mayson to lead review of legal regulation – Legal Futures

Posted July 13th, 2018 in legal services, news, reports by tracey

‘The Centre for Ethics & Laws at University College London is to hold an independent review into the regulatory framework for legal services. It will be led by Professor Stephen Mayson, a leading commentator on legal regulation.’

Full Story

legal Futures, 12th July 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Legal Services Board slaps Law Society with first ever public censure – Legal Futures

Posted June 1st, 2018 in Law Society, legal services, Legal Services Board, news, standards by sally

‘The Legal Services Board has handed out a public censure for the first time, after finding that the Law Society had governance arrangements in place that could have interfered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 31st May 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Top judge predicts revolution in use of legal services and training of lawyers – Legal Futures

‘Technology will revolutionise the way we educate, train, and utilise legal expertise, a senior judge has predicted.’

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Legal Futures, 10th May 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Speech by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court: The Future of Law – Courts and Tribunals Judiciary

‘In this lecture, the Chancellor will speak about his vision for the future of lawyers, courts and judges in the coming decades. He will mainly address the business lawyers’ environment, but will touch also on criminal, family and administrative matters. His thesis is that Fintech, Legaltech and Regtech will revolutionise the way we educate, train, and utilise legal expertise, and that whilst some of the changes may be slower than people expect, many will be much faster.’

Full speech

Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 9th May 2018

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Accountants to challenge government decision on rights to handle legal work – Legal Futures

Posted March 6th, 2018 in accountants, legal services, Ministry of Justice, news by sally

‘The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has launched judicial review proceedings against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) over the decision to deny its members the right to conduct litigation, advocacy and legal instruments work, Legal Futures can reveal.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 6th March 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Whatever happened to the judiciary’s McKenzie Friends consultation? – Transparency Project

‘In February 2016, the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, and the Judicial Executive Board issued a consultation entitled “Reforming the courts’ approach to McKenzie Friends”. It followed an internal report by a judicial working group and sought responses to a number of proposals in relation to McKenzie Friends, including changing their name to ‘court supporter’, replacing existing practice guidance with rules of court, introducing a Code of Conduct for them, and imposing a bar on recovery of fees.’

Full Story

Transparency Project, 27th February 2018

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

BSB agrees approach to improve transparency for clients of the Bar – Bar Standards Board

Posted February 26th, 2018 in advertising, barristers, consumer protection, fees, legal services, press releases by tracey

‘The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has set out a revised approach to improve transparency standards for clients of the Bar. This responds to the recent Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) market study of legal services and takes full account of responses to a recent BSB consultation.’

Full press release

Bar Standards Board, 23rd February 2018

Source: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk

Cry freedom: SRA wants to become separate legal entity from Law Society – Legal Futures

‘Legal regulators have urged the Legal Services Board (LSB) to use its review of the internal governance rules (IGR) to give them greater independence from their representative bodies.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 16th February 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

“Regretful” Court of Appeal rejects media firm’s bid to recover huge costs bill – Litigation Futures

Posted February 9th, 2018 in costs, fees, injunctions, legal services, news by tracey

‘The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision that a leading media law firm could not recover hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs because its conditional fee agreement (CFA) did not cover much of the work it undertook.’

Full Story

Litigation Futures, 8th February 2018

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Bar chair: Separation remains for a reason – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted January 16th, 2018 in barristers, legal profession, legal services, news, solicitors by tracey

‘I’m sure every chair for the last several years has been asked to comment on a forthcoming fusion of professions,’ said Andrew Walker QC when asked whether the solicitor and barrister professions will maintain their separate status in years to come.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 15th January 2018

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

2018 and beyond: Our legal futures… – Legal Futures

Posted January 9th, 2018 in law firms, legal profession, legal services, news, solicitors by sally

‘It’s that time of year again. Thinking about what’s gone before us and planning for the future – looking at what we do, how we do it, and more importantly, who we do it for.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 9th January 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

MoJ formally rules out review of legal regulation and complete independence for regulators – Legal Futures

‘The current framework of legal regulation is “inconsistent”, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) accepted today, but said it could not commit to the formal review sought by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and others.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 19th December 2017

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Legal regulation “more than ripe for total overhaul”, House of Lords told – Legal Futures

Posted December 18th, 2017 in legal services, news, parliament, regulations, speeches by sally

‘Legal regulation is “more than ripe for total overhaul”, a former chair of the Bar Standards Board has told the House of Lords.’

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Legal Futures, 15th December 2017

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Justice minister pours cold water on growing calls to fund early legal advice – Legal Futures

Posted December 6th, 2017 in budgets, legal aid, legal services, Ministry of Justice, news by sally

‘The government yesterday damped down hopes that it would consider funding greater access to early legal advice.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 6th December 2017

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Autumn Newsletter – Falcon Chambers

– Prescriptive easements – a glass half-full: out with the negative; in with the positive 10

– Keeping the Title Clean: Unwanted Notices and Restrictions 12

– Estoppel in Pre-Contractual Negotiations 15

– The Curse of the Freebie 17

– Voidable and no Mistake 20

Full Story

Falcon Chambers, November 2017

Source: www.falcon-chambers.com