Proposals to allow freelance solicitors to provide reserved legal services received a lukewarm response from the Legal Services Consumer Panel this month. Under the proposal, self-employed solicitors would work independent of any authorised firm. However, the Panel noted the Solicitors Regulation Authority consultation was ‘silent on the details’ of appropriate safeguards and protections. It expressed concern ‘first, on the inexistent level of protection, and second, on the increased consumer confusion this proposal could bring’. It also warned that consumers can find it difficult to differentiate between different types of solicitors and levels of protection.
10 January 2018
Panel casts doubt on freelancers
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly
Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team
Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees
Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees
Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron
Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes
NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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