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16 June 2011 / Joe Reevy
Issue: 7470 / Categories: Features , Profession , Marketing
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It’s good to talk

Concerned about the future of legal services? Talk to your accountant, suggests Joe Reevy

Concerned about the future of legal services? Talk to your accountant, suggests Joe Reevy
A couple of things are beginning to annoy me about the debate about the future of legal services.
The first is that the way the debate is being presented is that there is one of two possible futures for law firms. One of these is to “brand build” and the other is no future at all: an unavoidable, slow, painful demise for firms that don’t take certain actions. I just don’t believe that the future for law firms is anywhere near as black and white as it is being portrayed.

The second annoyance is the old chestnut that services are to be commoditised and that the inevitable result of this will be more work being done on ever lower margins and (here we go again) an unavoidable, slow, painful demise for firms that don’t take certain actions.
These positions have been repeated so often that

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

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
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’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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