Unbundled legal services
We are calling on our members to tell us about their experience of offering unbundled legal services – which reduces overall cost but enables access to expert advice at critical stages.
We encourage interested members to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 17 November. A roundtable will also be held in the New Year to gather more views.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson tells the Gazette, Today’s Wills & Probate and Today’s Family Lawyer: “Recent research has highlighted the benefits of unbundling for consumers. As such, it is important that the Law Society better understands how members are delivering unbundled services and the risks and benefits.
“We are particularly interested in how they are managing their liability and the extent to which these services are expanding their client base and increasing revenue.
"We encourage members to share their views to help us understand how we can best support them in delivering unbundled services going forward.”
Women partners
The FT (£) covers why law firms are under pressure to make more women partners.
Statistics from the Solicitors Regulation Authority show that women account for 60% of solicitors in England and Wales and it cites our data that the number of women solicitors in England and Wales grew at three times the rate of men in the decade to 2021.
Llanelli police station fee uplift
Legal News Wales and the Pembrokeshire Herald report the Ministry of Justice have approved a police station fee uplift for criminal legal aid solicitors in Llanelli, Wales, after the fees for four major legal aid firms were slashed by 25% overnight last month.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “We are pleased to see that the Ministry of Justice has responded to our calls to restore fees to their previous rates for the four affected law firms.
“Duty solicitors work hard with very little resources to help people at crisis point. We were concerned the arbitrary cuts to their fees would be the death knell for legal aid in an area that has long been considered an advice desert for criminal practitioners.”
Implications of generative AI
Akber Datoo, a member of our technology and law committee, writes in Family Wealth Report about the commercial and regulatory implications of unmanaged and immature use of AI on internal processes.
Also worth a read:
- Compliance expert calls for inquiry into SRA over Axiom Ince fallout – Gazette & Gazette Magazine (page 30)
- Top prosecutor warns of enduring justice delays – BBC
- County Court delays: MPs to probe capacity and resources – Legal Futures
- Legal Ombudsman seeking £1.2m budget increase – Legal Futures
- Lawyers urge government to uphold the rule of law in Gaza – Jurist
- IBA president has a daunting to-do list – Gazette