A round-up of the week’s news

7 December

Michael Tomlinson KC MP (pictured) was appointed to replace Robert Jenrick as immigration minister, No 10 announced. Tom Pursglove MP, who was the minister for disabled people, has also been moved to the Home Office, as minister for legal migration and delivery. Replacing Tomlinson as solicitor general is barrister Robert Courts, MP for Witney.

The government made changes to the qualified legal representative scheme to allow lawyers to claim for expenses including travel, food and accommodation as they attend hearings. The scheme was brought in to protect survivors of domestic abuse from being cross-examined by their alleged abuser.

 

6 December

The oversight regulator is considering an independent review of the causes of the catastrophic collapse of Axiom Ince. Legal Services Board chair Matthew Hill told MPs on the Commons justice committee that the organisation is exploring options for an ‘independent, objective’ review of the events leading up to the SRA’s intervention into the firm earlier this year. Hill was giving evidence to the committee’s inquiry into legal services regulation.

National firm Hudgell Solicitors is to become the latest legal practice to choose John Lewis-style ownership following founder Neil Hudgell’s decision to transfer the majority of shares to an employee ownership trust. Hudgell, who established the firm in Hull in 1997, said the move is being taken to ‘embrace the talent’ within the business, to ‘give something back’ and to protect its long-term future. Hudgell Solicitors is one of the largest law firms to take the employee-ownership route, a trend pioneered by regional firm Stephens Scown in 2016.

Energy and business group Octopus moved into the legal services market by acquiring a majority stake in the alternative divorce business amicable, which markets itself as an alternative to solicitors.

The prioritisation protocol brought in to help mitigate ‘system-wide pressures’ in the family justice system has ended across Greater Manchester. Cafcass, which introduced the protocol during the pandemic, said normal allocation processes were reinstated this month.

 

5 December

Big Four professional services firm EY said it will close a bolt-on legal firm five years after snapping it up. EY announced that EY Riverview Law would cease to operate as an independent entity and that existing client engagements would transfer to the EY UK business.

A violent assault on a judge on 29 November which left him hospitalised was no isolated incident, concerned court users have claimed. A former judge and a union boss both said there have been other examples of attacks on people working at the same court at Milton Keynes. (Leader, p3.)

A global sports betting, gaming and entertainment company agreed to pay £615m as part of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) reached over bribery allegations. The deal with Entain plc is the first DPA to be reached by Crown Prosecution Service as prosecutor. All 12 previous DPAs in England and Wales since their introduction in 2014 have been the result of investigations and prosecutions by the Serious Fraud Office.

 

4 December

Lawyers should be cautious about acting in crowdfunded legal actions aimed at changing government or corporate policy, according to a major study on ethical risks published by super-regulator the Legal Services Board. (In Focus, p6.)

New guideline rates coming into force next year have been published, with top fee-earners in London now able to claim £546 an hour. The judicial office outlined the figures that will be applied from 1 January, covering grades A to D for London and the rest of the country.

 

1 December

Stowe Family Law continued its expansion with the acquisition of fellow family specialist Crisp & Co, a firm with 17 offices across the south-east and Manchester. Meanwhile, south-east firm Cripps announced a merger with PDT Solicitors, a commercial firm based in Sussex. The move will expand Cripps’ corporate law and commercial real estate offering in particular.

Nearly 300 rugby union players will have to wait at least another five months to see if they can bring a group action against the sport’s governing bodies in relation to compensation claims for brain injuries, in a long-running case being followed closely by other sports. (In Focus, p8.)