Making the headlines: A round-up of recent client stories in the media
The launch of a new firm offering financial as well as legal advice was covered by multiple news outlets.
Wildcat Law, an alternative business structure, is open to lawyers of all levels including solicitors, barristers, chartered legal executives and paralegals, as well as independent financial advisors.
Barrister Tahina Akther, who set up Wildcat alongside chartered wealth manager David Robinson, said offering opportunities to talented lawyers, regardless of their qualification or experience, was a core founding principle. “Too often, good people are overlooked,” she added.
The firm’s launch featured in 14 publications including FT Advisor, Law Society Gazette, Global Legal Post, Professional Advisor, The Wealth Net, Legal Futures and Solicitors Journal.
A system set up to simplify the claims process for victims of lower-value road traffic accidents is failing, wrote First4Lawyers’ managing director Qamar Anwar in an article commissioned by The Times. ?
The Official Injury Claim portal, which launched just over a year ago, has been widely criticised for failing to deliver on its promise of helping people to make a claim without legal assistance. More than 90% of users still instruct a lawyer to help them.
In a 450-word editorial, Qamar Anwar called on the Ministry of Justice to carry out a full review in order to drive improvements.
His comments on planned reforms to clinical negligence were also published in The Times and others including New Law Journal and Legal Futures.
Clinical negligence reforms put forward by government are “wholly inadequate” according to the Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL).
The plan to impose fixed recoverable costs in cases worth up to ￡25k would have a “significant negative impact” on access to justice for vulnerable claimants, the ACL said in response to the plans, which was quoted in Insurance Claims, New Law Journal, Legal Futures and The Legal Diary.
Also for ACL, Chair Jack Ridgway’s comments on a Court of Appeal ruling to strike out a bill of costs because it was not possible to identify which lawyers worked on the case was picked up by the Law Society Gazette and Solicitors Journal. Jack was also the subject of a careers profile in New Law Journal.
A groundbreaking project to develop software able to identify and assess reputational risk received widespread coverage across the legal and IT press.
Kennedys is leading the consortium responsible for the project, which has been awarded ￡783k from Innovate UK.
In a press release, the Kennedys IQ team said reputational damage could result in “huge financial losses” for firms.
The story secured coverage in Legal IT Insider and Artificial Lawyer among others, plus follow-up articles on reputational risk including in Insurance POST.
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Legal apprentices in Wales will now be able to study remotely thanks to a new partnership publicised in The Times.
The apprenticeships are open to school leavers, sponsored by their employer, who are looking for a vocational route into law.
The initiative is a joint project between the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX), the Law Society and the Welsh government in a bid to improve career opportunities for young people.
Coverage also included Legal News Wales, Business News Wales and Wales Business Insider.
The brains behind some of the most well-known global law firms shared their marketing insights in an article from Passle commissioned by Global Legal Post.
It drew on the wisdom of business development officers from across the industry who have appeared on the popular ‘CMO Podcast Series’ run by the digital marketing platform for professional services.
James Barclay, CEO of Passle US, said: “Marketing and business development have become integral to helping firms understand and deliver what is needed to be successful in the market.”
Obelisk Support CEO Dana Denis-Smith highlighted problems with the current provision of parental leave in a letter to The Guardian.
“In addition to more affordable childcare and a right to flexible working, we need to look at a fixed allowance of parental leave for each parent that can be used at any time in a child’s first 12 years of life. This would better reflect the ongoing needs of families as children grow up, ameliorating some of the childcare responsibilities that have led to women being disadvantaged in the workplace,” she said.
Hannah Langford, planning partner at Devonshires, also wrote in the Financial Times criticising the latest round of planning reform following the Queen’s speech.
“When he introduced the planning white paper less than two years ago, Boris Johnson promised ‘radical reform unlike anything we’ve seen since the Second World War. Not more fiddling around the edges.’ Yet here we are again, still fiddling,” she said.
Elsewhere, the case of a man who suffered devastating injuries after he was hit by a taxi when the driver fell asleep at the wheel was covered exclusively in the Sun.
Elvis Radu, 30, crushed his left leg, hip, pelvis and lower back in the incident at the Midnight Motor Zone car wash in Hayes, Middlesex.
Taxi firm Addison Lee admitted liability and, with the help of Osbornes Law, settled the case for an undisclosed, five-figure sum earlier this year.
Personal injury specialist Nicola Hall, who represented Mr Radu, said the case should serve as a warning to all motorists.
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