Legal services

The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness

The Ministry of Justice is once again in the dock as access to justice continues to deteriorate. NLJ consultant editor David Greene warns in this week's issue that neither public legal aid nor private litigation funding looks set for a revival in 2026

Will access to justice gain a much-needed boost in 2026? David Greene fears that the signs are not looking promising

An attempt to use Mazur to defend a serial fare-dodger charged with making 112 train journeys without a ticket has failed at Westminster Magistrates’ Court

Free legal advice services are on track to receive a £3.9m bonanza arising from the ‘boundary fares’ settlement

Disturbing real-life examples of lawyers harassed, disbarred or imprisoned for doing their job have been detailed in a Law Society report, ‘When lawyers are silenced’

Law firm HFW is offering clients lawyers on call for dawn raids, sanctions issues and other regulatory emergencies

Richard Orpin has been appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the Legal Services Board (LSB), which oversees all nine legal regulators

Ministers’ proposals to raise funds by seizing interest on lawyers’ client account schemes could ‘cause firms to close’, solicitors have warned

Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome