News

For the second year running professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal went smoothly for the vast majority of firms, the Law Society of England and Wales’s 2015-16 PII survey has found.

The number of practising solicitors both in-house and in private practice is on the up, according to the Law Society of England and Wales Annual Statistics Report for 2015.

New analysis shows that an 8,000 jobs boost follows each one per cent growth in legal services.

Today, the Law Society publishes 'The Future of Legal Services', a report which brings together new and existing evidence to identify the key drivers for change, together with the opportunities and potential threats, in the legal services market over the next five years.

The best of our legal profession gathered at the Hilton Hotel Park Lane last night for the annual Law Society Excellence Awards.

You have made the decision and agreed the strategy: your firm will provide excellence in legal practice management and client care. Now comes the hard part - carrying it out.

President of the Law Society Andrew Caplen is pleased to announce an impressive line-up of judges for this year's Law Society Excellence Awards.

Lexcel is now recognised by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) as an alternative standard to the Specialist Quality Mark (SQM) for firms wishing to tender for a legal aid contract, meaning firms now have the choice to rely on either Lexcel or SQM as part of their tender submission. If you are considering tendering for any future contracts, it is worth working towards a quality standard now, so reducing the amount of work at the tender stage, and also ensuring you have a standard in place to meet any required tender deadlines

For in-house practices, there are a variety of benefits which can be experienced by achieving Lexcel accreditation. Mistakes can be reduced, and efficiency increased, which can be beneficial not only to the legal department but also to the wider organisation within they sit. Lexcel accreditation can allow in house practices to test the quality and cost effectiveness of the services they provide and show that they are embracing best practice.

The Legal Ombudsman (LEO) will now accept complaints from prospective clients where a person has unreasonably been refused a service. How can you demonstrate that you acted properly when refusing this prospective client?