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The ABC of Wellbeing in the legal sector
Wellbeing is a very hot topic in the legal professions at the moment with calls for change coming from many quarters. By far, the leader in heralding the need for change is LawCare whose unparalleled Life in the Law Report 2021 shone a much needed light on the serious issues affecting a significant number of individuals. Read more…
An overview of the changes to the Legal Ombudsman’s Scheme Timescales and the impact on your compliance obligations
On 1 April 2023, changes to the Legal Ombudsman’s Scheme Rules are due to go live. This is the first comprehensive redrawing of the rules since 2012, and included is a change to Scheme Rule 4: a decrease in the time allowed for clients to make complaints.Read more…
Discover your learning style and how to use it to maximise your performance
We all learn in different ways but it is not always the case that our learning environment is adapted accordingly. Indeed, the Bar Standards Board make a number of references in the Bar Qualification Manual to learning styles. Read more…
Beyond the horizon – opportunities for creating independent, sustainable futures for lawyers
Earlier this year, we wrote an article for Counsel magazine about entity regulation for barristers; given the winds of change in the legal sector at the moment, we felt it would be beneficial to write about entity regulation for both solicitors and barristers. Read more…
How legal practices can avoid a fine of £98,000
Cyber-crime has grown exponentially in recent years, with the NCSC publishing a joint advisory report on 9th February 2022 showing a global trend of increased threats caused by ransomware in 2021[1]. They highlight the use of more sophisticated tactics and techniques being deployed by cyber criminals targeting top UK sectors including the legal profession. Read more..
How to Master Reflective Practice and why it’s so important to solicitors and barristers
Why do lawyers need to develop Reflective Practice?
The simple answer is – because the regulators tell us we must!
Seriously though, it goes a lot deeper than that. Here are a few reasons: Read more…
Climbing the Competence Ladder
Competence is a vitally important topic in the legal services professions, particularly for those working in a regulated environment. This blog will focus on the BSB and SRA, but the remaining legal service regulators will also have equivalent requirements given that these are derived from the overarching regulator, the Legal Services Board (“LSB”). Read more…
Legal services risk from the Russian conflict: Another dimension – Data
There has rightly been a lot of focus in recent days about sanctions and anti-money laundering issues in relation to the Russian conflict; the purpose of this blog is to introduce another dimension which lawyers should be aware of concerning a commodity which is increasing in value: data. Read more…
BSB Transparency Rules: where do I start?
When you are a self-employed barrister or involved in the management of a BSB regulated entity or a chambers, your to-do list is ever growing. On an ever-growing to-do list there are always chores that you really don’t want to do or that get put off repeatedly – often until they become unavoidable. Does this sound familiar? Read more…
The “P” Factor (pupillage recruitment)
I’ve been working on the compliance side of pupillage recruitment recently and it seems to me as an objective bystander that there are two camps with very different values. Read more…
What can carpenters teach lawyers?
One thing that I have constantly struggled to understand, through years of dealing with compliance and quality – whether it’s been called benchmarking, quality improvement, auditing, continuous improvement; or whether the applicable standard is ISO, Lexcel or regulatory requirements – is how the legal profession is actually quite averse to it. Read more…
File Auditing
It goes without saying that following the increase in self-regulation, it’s not a question of whether you audit, it’s how you do it. Read more…