Today's rundown:
Afghan resettlement scheme urgently needed
Rise of the robot lawyers
Junior lawyers must be supported as the profession looks to hybrid working
Nick Emmerson elected as deputy vice president
Individual practising fee set to fall by 6.7%
Afghan resettlement scheme urgently needed
The Independent, Sky News, City A.M, MSN News, Yahoo! News and the Gazette report our fears the UK government's resettlement scheme will be insufficient to protect all those in danger. Our concerns for the safety female judges and other legal professionals in Afghanistan – shared by other legal bodies such as the Bar Council and the Bar Human Rights Committee - are also covered.
Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce said: "A growing number of solicitors are being contacted about people whose lives are in danger in Afghanistan and who have no viable or safe way to apply for or exercise potential rights to travel to the UK.
"Anyone who wants to apply for entry to the UK from Afghanistan has to get to Pakistan or India to provide biometrics before their application will be considered. This creates a near impenetrable barrier to seeking sanctuary and urgently needs to be rethought."
Rise of the robot lawyers
Akber Datoo, from our technology and law committee spoke to Ian Collins on talkRADIO (from 07:45 in the 14:30 – 15.00 section) about the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) software systems by the legal community.
Junior lawyers must be supported as the profession looks to hybrid working
Legal Cheek reports that Travers Smith has told its employees they can work remotely 2.5 days a week. It also cites advice we issued in May about how to support junior lawyers as the profession looks to hybrid and flexible working.
Read our remote supervision guidance
Nick Emmerson elected as deputy vice president
Nick Emmerson has won the election for Law Society deputy vice president (DVP). He will take office as DVP on 14 October 2021. Australasian Lawyer and Global Legal Post pick up the story.
Nick said: "It's a great honour to be elected to this position – I'm looking forward to facing the challenges ahead and working alongside the other office holders, council and staff. I'm proud to be a solicitor and am keenly aware of the issues facing our profession at this exceptionally difficult time."
Read our press release
Individual practising fee set to fall by 6.7%
Legal Futures and the Solicitors Journal report that the individual practising fee will fall by 6.7% in the coming year. Legal Futures also picks up on the DVP election result.
Also worth a read:
- Afghanistan: PM to request Biden to keep US troops at Kabul airport after 31 August – Guardian
- Biden says efforts to evacuate people from Kabul airport are accelerating – BBC
- Two weeks of climate protests planned by Extinction Rebellion – Evening Standard
- 80 private travel testing companies warned over 'misleading prices' – Independent