Law firms are falling behind other sectors when it comes to client satisfaction and customer support, research commissioned by Peppermint Technology has revealed. How Law Firms Measure Up Against Other Sectors found that law firms lack the willingness to change, remain sceptical about the benefits of automation and are reluctant to take a long-term view and invest sufficiently in their business. Law firms invest only 4.1% of turnover in IT, compared to consultancy (4.9%), accountancy (5.1%) and financial services (7%). One third had not invested in any business innovations in the past two years, and did not maintain contact with clients.
15 April 2016
Are lawyers measuring up?
MOVERS & SHAKERS
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Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond
Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands
Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell
Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert
Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green
Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge
NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’
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