SME Law Firms Reduce Reliance on Client Account Interest
SME law firms posted their strongest financial year in over a decade, with practice fee income rising 11.2% in 2025 to a median £1.2 million per equity partner (≈ $1.5 million). Profit per equity partner (PEP) jumped 13% overall and 10.5% when client‑account interest is excluded, while salary costs fell to 63.9% of fee income, tightening margins. Despite the gains, fee‑earner productivity remained low – average chargeable hours climbed to 807 per lawyer, still well under the 1,000‑1,100 benchmark – and firms are cautiously watching AI‑driven efficiency gains. Regulators are tightening scrutiny as a modest 13% of firms took drawings above profits, highlighting the fragility of the upside.
Licensed Conveyancers Embrace Employee Ownership
Fidler & Pepper, a Nottinghamshire conveyancing firm founded in 1888, became the first Council‑regulated licensed conveyancer to convert to an employee ownership trust (EOT). The brothers who own the business transferred 51% of their shares to the EOT and will...
BBC Sting Heaps Pressure on Immigration Lawyers and SRA
The BBC's latest undercover investigation claims immigration lawyers are helping migrants fabricate gay or other identity claims to obtain asylum, charging thousands of pounds per case. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) responded by closing three named firms—Law & Justice Solicitors,...
IManage Appoints Ryan Begin and David Zember to Expand Global Partner Strategy and Technology Ecosystem
iManage announced the hiring of Ryan Begin as Vice President of Technology Partnerships and Ecosystem Strategy and David Zember as Vice President of Global Channels and Alliances. Begin, a former Salesforce executive who helped scale the AppExchange to over 7,000...
AI in Law: Cutting Through the Noise
Legal Futures highlights that AI is now unavoidable for law firms, but successful adoption hinges on ethical, transparent, and workflow‑integrated solutions. The article warns that many vendors offer buzz‑word‑driven tools that add complexity, raise GDPR and cybersecurity risks, and can...
IManage to Unveil Major Platform Advancement at ConnectLive 2026
iManage announced that its ConnectLive 2026 conference in Chicago and London will showcase a major evolution of its platform, emphasizing AI‑powered knowledge work. The upgrade includes a refreshed user interface, streamlined workflows, tighter Microsoft 365 integration, and new AI governance controls. Attendees...
The Property Firm’s Guide to Mastering Compliance in 2026
InfoTrack’s new Property Firm’s Guide to Mastering Compliance 2026 maps a rapidly tightening regulatory landscape across the FCA, SRA and Companies House. It stresses that compliance must move beyond check‑boxes to a unified operating model built on digital onboarding, real‑time...
Why “Good Enough” Is No Longer Enough for AML Compliance
The FCA is set to assume direct oversight of anti‑money‑laundering (AML) compliance for UK law firms, shifting focus toward enforcement rather than merely drafting new rules. With an estimated £100 billion (≈$127 billion) laundered through the UK economy each year, regulators are...
Inspire Legal Group Becomes First UK Firm to Integrate Qanooni AI with Actionstep
Inspire Legal Group has become the first UK law firm to embed Qanooni AI within its Actionstep practice‑management platform. The integration links AI‑driven drafting, research and matter summarisation directly into Microsoft Word and Outlook, allowing lawyers to work with live...
Solicitor Who Falsely Recorded Time to Meet Targets Struck Off
Clare Elizabeth Forster, a clinical‑negligence solicitor at Hudgells, was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after falsifying 100 hours of billable time over five months to meet a 125‑hour monthly target. Despite evidence of mental‑health struggles and personal hardships,...
SRA Accused of “Stonewalling” Over Health Statistics
Solicitor Matthew Letts has accused the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) of stonewalling his request for data on how often practising certificates are conditioned for health reasons. He filed the request under the SRA’s transparency code on 1 March 2026, seeking statistics since...
Family Law Market Expected to “Keep Growing by 6%”
The UK family law market grew 6.4% to £2.3 bn (≈$2.9 bn) in 2025 and is forecast to expand at roughly 6% annually, reaching £2.9 bn (≈$3.7 bn) by 2029. Case starts rose 2.9% to over 270,000, driven by financial‑remedy and private‑law Children Act...
Keep Out of Employment Issues, Solicitors Tell SRA
The Birmingham Law Society, representing 9,000 solicitors, has urged the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to narrow its focus to core regulatory risks and improve complaint triage. The society’s professional regulation committee, led by Cary Whitmarsh, argues that employment matters such...
Top City Firm Ordered to Pay Wasted Costs over Instruction Error
A London‑based City law firm, Clyde & Co, was ordered to pay wasted costs after it falsely claimed to be instructed by the claimant’s insurer in a maritime collision case. The High Court found the firm’s explanation of the error...
New Chambers Scraps Traditional Hierarchy to Set Free Collaboration
Parity, a new London chambers specializing in employment law, opened on 7 April in the Shard with a four‑person team. Co‑heads David Stephenson and Paras Gorasia have eliminated the traditional barrister‑solicitor hierarchy, positioning all members as equals. The boutique focuses on...
