Legal news
Controversial “flexible court hours” scheme put on hold - 11 October 2017
A controversial “flexible court hours” scheme that was due to be imminently rolled out across several jurisdictions has now been put on hold by the Government. The plans, which are heavily opposed by the legal sector, will see the crown
Solicitors could face hefty tax bills following FTT judgment - 11 October 2017
Concerns have been raised that solicitors and law firms could face huge tax bills, after a First-Tier Tribunal ruled that VAT is payable in relation to electronic local authority property searches carried out by third-party firms. In the case in
CMA gets green light to reform price transparency in legal sector - 11 October 2017
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has given the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) the green light to proceed with plans to improve price transparency in the legal sector. It said the CMA’s proposals “represent a sufficient starting point for the
SRA publishes new social media guidance for solicitors - 26 September 2017
New guidance has been published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in recent days in relation to “inappropriate behaviour” on social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter. It follows news that the regulator has experienced a ‘significant increase’ in
Solicitors “missing out on business” by failing to follow-up clients - 26 September 2017
The legal sector is “missing out on business” by failing to follow up potential customers, a new study has revealed. Shopper Anonymous, which published the study, contacted a variety of law firms on 400 different occasions in person, by telephone,
SRA urges solicitors not to charge “excessive fees” for work in relation to PPI mis-selling - 26 September 2017
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is calling on law firms to avoid charging “excessive fees” for claims in relation to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The calls come at a time when consumers are being urged to open
Changes to SRA rules will help solicitors to ‘switch’ between regulators - 9 August 2017
Proposed changes to Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) rules will make it easier for law firms to ‘switch’ between approved regulators, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has said. The SRA has announced plans to overhaul existing rules in a bid to
Expansion of fixed costs regime for legal claims to be “significantly” scaled back - 9 August 2017
Plans to apply fixed costs for all legal claims up to the value of £250,000 have been “significantly” scaled back, the Law Society has reported. Instead, Lord Justice Jackson has confirmed that fixed recoverable costs should apply to claims valued
Solicitors must provide greater cost transparency to ‘vulnerable’ consumers, report suggests - 9 August 2017
New research carried out by the Legal Services Board (LSB) suggests that the majority of ‘vulnerable’ legal services consumers who have mental health conditions such as dementia would benefit from greater cost transparency. The study, which surveyed 60 mentally ill
Law Society to reduce cost of solicitors’ practising certificate fees - 18 July 2017
The Law Society has announced that it will reduce the overall cost of its solicitors practising certificate fees to £278, according to reports. The move represents a reduction of £12 – and the Society has said that it is expecting
