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LeO's new naming and shaming policy needs clarification

With the ombudsman set to publish names of lawyers found at fault, firms should take complaints handling more seriously, says Kim Hobbs

Dead on arrival: nobody is interested in alternative business structures

Is the SRA's delay in getting ready for ABSs a clumsy oversight or a clever move accurately judging the mood of the public? asks Kerry Underwood

When all is said and done

Another week and another announcement by a wannabe ABS that it intends to get into the legal services market big time. First it was QualitySolicitors which suddenly raised the temperature last month by selling up to venture capitalists Palamon Capital. Then, a fortnight ago, Cooperative Legal Services – set up by the Co-op in 2006 before the Legal Services Act even received Royal Assent – said it would launch a family legal advice service as soon as the Solicitors Regulation Authority was in a position to regulate alternative business structures. And last week, In-Deed, the conveyancing service set up by Rightmove founder Harry Hill, said it will buy up law firms to expand its legal services offering into areas such as will writing and personal injury work.

Going it alone

From a converted cobbler's shop in Leeds to opening a third office in central London, Marilyn Stowe's practice has come a long way in 30 years – but it hasn't always been an easy ride, she explains as she celebrates her firm's anniversary

Let's put the ABSolutely into fabulous

None of the law abiding and kind readers of this article would ever own up to doing such a thing. My defence is that my crime is now statute barred and in any event I was at the time below the age of criminal responsibility. All the same I have to confess that in the distant past I would occasionally kick an ants' nest while on a wooded walk and watch the occupants' subsequent frenetic activity as they rushed to repair the damage. If I returned a day later I would find the nest completely reinstated and ready for the next juvenile boot.

Warning signs

Are budget-driven cuts in care funding made by local authorities tantamount to institutional financial abuse? Lawrence Tudin reports

All legal services should be regulated, SRA says

The SRA has called for all legal services to be regulated. In its response to the LSB's consultation paper on the regulation of will writers, the SRA said the decisions made at the time of the Legal Services Act in 2007 had resulted in a “significantly unsatisfactory system of regulation”.

Jackson LJ backs Australian-style facilitators to control expert witness costs

Lord Justice Jackson has backed the use of 'facilitators' to control the cost of expert witnesses in complex civil litigation cases, such as construction or IT.