I recently had the dubious pleasure of attending a debate on the future of legal education at UCL. The event was entitled 'Do lawyers need to be scholars?' and was loosely based around the future of legal education and the continuing Legal Education and Training Review. It was certainly an esteemed panel, but unfortunately it was predominantly a panel of experienced academics. The opportunity to engage with those who were going through the process of legal education or with those who had just completed their academic and post-graduate experience was cleverly avoided or intentionally ignored by the academic (of course) chair. Sadly, the 'debate' didn't really get off the ground. It was more a series of generally well-intentioned statements, such as going back to the '3 Rs of law', namely research, writing and reasoning and introducing an additional two Es: ethics and economics.
With several legal brands entering the market in 2012 – all likely to use some form of automated online documentation – firms must start to embrace automation to ensure they can compete, says Stuart Bushell
With the judiciary starting to recognise electronic contracts, practitioners must ensure their clients take extra care before hitting the 'send' button, says Deborah Caldwell
It is hard to predict whether the pensions reforms will help revive the UK's ailing retirement savings, but what is certain is that employers must be ready to meet their new obligations, says James Gulliford
The Norgrove review of family law has made some worthwhile recommendations but has missed an opportunity for a more radical overhaul, says Jon Armstrong
More bait has been thrown in the pond, and again the fish circle around it not quite sure how to respond. Last Thursday the Co-op announced that its legal advice arm, Co-operative Legal Services, would launch a specialist family law service as soon as new rules on alternative business structures come into force next year.
