Legal services

Digital informality meets hard-edged costs law. In this week's NLJ, David Bailey-Vella, chair of the Association of Costs Lawyers and legal director at Pogust Goodhead, examines MacInnes v DWF Law LLP, in which the Senior Courts Costs Office held that if a firm bills for WhatsApp work, those messages form part of the ‘file’—even if stored on personal devices

David Bailey-Vella weighs up WhatsApp, ‘the file’, & the modern realities of costs disclosure

Hugh James has secured 500 places on King’s College London’s new AI Literacy for Law course as part of a major firm-wide push to strengthen its responsible use of generative artificial intelligence

"The next board meeting of every law firm should have on its agenda the following item: why have we not read this book?"

All eyes will be on the Court of Appeal (or its YouTube livestream) next week as it sits to consider the controversial Mazur judgment

A groundbreaking £3.9m grants programme using unclaimed money from a UK class action opened for applications this week

The ‘statutory remit’ of super-regulator the Legal Services Board (LSB) is to come under scrutiny in a government review

The billable hour rewarded time over talent & sacrifice over sustainability. Good riddance, says Ian McDougall

The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’

Who’s coming, who’s going, & what cases are worth watching? Dominic Regan reports from the legal frontlines