The HIPS disaster

HIPs were introduced in about 2007 I think as a way to ’speed up’ conveyancing.  Practically every conveyancer I have ever spoken to has said that it was ill conceived and would do little if nothing to help conveyancing delays.  Did the government listen?  No of course not.  They had to be ’seen to be doing something about it’, so in they came.

On the back of this, thousands of people put their trust in the government and paid for expensive training, set up new businesses, and/or developed now software so they could offere a HIPs service.

Today we are told that HIPs have been suspended with immediate effect.  So good, in that a pointless piece of red tape has now gone.  But a disaster to all those professionals who put their trust and their  careers in the government’s plans.

Legal aid again

I have written frequently in the past on my Landlord Law Blog about problems with legal aid (as that blog is now more focused on housing matters, I will be bringing some of that discussion over here).  Everyone in the legal profession knows that far from being a ‘gravy train’ (as is often claimed in the press),  those doing legal aid work are actually earning substantially less than their colleagues acting for private clients, and in some cases are not really making any profit at all.

However many solicitors continue to offer a legal aid service, partly because they believe in providing a service for those more disadvantaged in our society, and partly because that is what they ‘do’ and re-training is not really an option (or not an option they want to take).

I now read that some firms are actually threatened with bankruptcy because the Legal Services Commisison (the government funded body which runs the legal aid system) is delaying payments to legal aid firms. My view is that firms should think very carefully indeed today about offering any type of legal aid service.  It could result in substantial financial losses.  There are after all other ways of helping the disadvantaged.

Some good news

The third story which has struck me today is that Quality Solicitors, (which I wrote about here) is to set up a chain of High Street offices, in a bid to become the first ‘big name’ solicitors chain.

Good luck to them!  It is good to see lawyers fighting back.

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1. Richard Susskind writing in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers (Jan/Feb edition) talks admiringly about the court being the most technologically advanced in the UK, and describes how the Justices can call up documents and court papers with the flick of a finger.

2. Rupert White however, writing in the Law Society Gazette, says it was overpriced and poorly procured.

How can we mere mortals decide?  As Richard Susskind is IT advisor to the Lord Chief Justice, he might be a teensy bit partial though.  Problems with big computer schemes are not unknown in the legal world.  I seem to remember that the Law Society had a bit of a problem a few years ago.

Well we shall have to wait and see how things work out.

This states that from January 2010, lawyer websites (in Florida that is) will be subject to strict advertising standards, which will include no testimonials, no details of past results and no statements characterising the quality of the law services being rendered.

I bet completing services which are not subject to the Florida bar are really pleased about this!

You can read the article here.