The Law Society’s latest financial accounts show that the cost of dealing with an increasing number of firms in financial difficulty doubled from £3m to £6m, in a year that saw the body enter the black for the first time since 2010 and soon-to-retire Law Society chief executive Des Hudson receive a pay rise of nearly 20%. Continue reading “Law Society back in black as intervention costs double and Hudson receives 19% pay rise”
‘Create an environment where you’re not necessary’ – Grayling tells LSB to work towards its abolition
The Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling yesterday (4 June) outlined plans for the Legal Services Board (LSB) to wind itself down as part of efforts to streamline an over-regulated profession. Continue reading “‘Create an environment where you’re not necessary’ – Grayling tells LSB to work towards its abolition”
SRA approves plans to broaden qualification route beyond training contracts
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) board yesterday (21 May) formally approved an overhaul of its training regulations and continuing professional development (CPD) regime in a step towards opening up the pathways to qualification and ongoing self-assessment.
Continue reading “SRA approves plans to broaden qualification route beyond training contracts”
Comment: A precarious professionalism – Do City lawyers take ethics for granted?
The practice of law has flipped from vocation to business. Law firms and individual lawyers are measured explicitly in predominantly economic terms. Continue reading “Comment: A precarious professionalism – Do City lawyers take ethics for granted?”
Legal reform: SRA unveils plans to cut red tape and promote competition
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has unveiled ambitious plans to overhaul key pillars of the regulation of the profession in order to cut red tape, improve competition, cut costs and ensure that regulation is properly targeted. Continue reading “Legal reform: SRA unveils plans to cut red tape and promote competition”
‘Self-interested’ Law Society stripped of power to appoint SRA chair
Just days after the Legal Services Board (LSB) chairman delivered a scathing speech accusing the Law Society of being entirely self-interested, the representative body has been stripped of its power to appoint the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new chair, in a move designed to give the regulator greater independence. Continue reading “‘Self-interested’ Law Society stripped of power to appoint SRA chair”
DISSENT: A precarious professionalism
UCL’s Richard Moorhead argues the integrity and professionalism that City lawyers take for granted is all too easily swayed
The practice of law has flipped from vocation to business. Law firms and individual lawyers are measured explicitly in predominantly economic terms. Profit per equity partner (PEP) and other indicators trickle down firms through targets and bonuses. Hourly rates are the oil that greases this engine. Alongside that is the somewhat servile claim that lawyers are not deal breakers or pettifoggers, but business-focused advisers, and business-focused advisers for whom the client comes first.
SRA gets green light for radical training overhaul as board set to vote
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has received approval to push ahead with far-reaching proposals to overhaul legal training, with the results of a 12-week consultation set to be voted on by the board, which is also expected to vote to end to the current system of continuing professional development (CPD) points. Continue reading “SRA gets green light for radical training overhaul as board set to vote”
Legal regulation: Largest family justice reforms ‘for a generation’ usher in new single court
The largest family justice reforms ‘for a generation’ will come into effect today (22 April), introducing a new combined Family Court in which all levels of judge are able to sit in the same building and a simplified single system. Continue reading “Legal regulation: Largest family justice reforms ‘for a generation’ usher in new single court”
Legal Services Board appoints BT general counsel and Ofcom competition director as members
Just weeks after bringing in a former chief executive of Cheshire and Kent County Councils, Sir Michael Pitt, to succeed David Edmonds CBE as chairman, the Legal Services Board has announced the appointment of David Eveleigh, general counsel to BT’s global services division, and Marina Gibbs, a director of competition policy at watchdog Ofcom, as non-executive board members of the regulatory body. Continue reading “Legal Services Board appoints BT general counsel and Ofcom competition director as members”