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07 October 2011 / David Greene
Issue: 7484 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services
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Resolution or revolution?

David Greene charts the latest developments in the legal services revolution

The Legal Services Board (LSB) recently published a report prepared by consultants Oxera into the monitoring of changes in the legal service sector (A framework to monitor the legal services sector, 20 September 2011). The report follows in the wake of the Legal Services Act 2007, Pt 5 of which is now being put into effect with the introduction of alternative business structures (ABS). The report seeks to establish monitoring tools to measure changes in the business of law. For those involved in litigation, however, this change in the structure of law firms is but the latest in the constant revolution for supply of legal services in the sector.

Lord Woolf’s legacy

The revolution for litigators started ten years ago with Lord Woolf’s report and the changes to civil procedure that flowed. Such have been, and continue to be, the changes, that it is difficult to sit back and see not only where we have been but where we are

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NEWS
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has narrowly preserved a key weapon in its anti-corruption arsenal. In this week's NLJ, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers examines Guralp Systems Ltd v SFO, in which the High Court ruled that a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) remained in force despite the company’s failure to disgorge £2m by the stated deadline
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
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