With significant changes to public funding and the rise of litigants in person, many practitioners are looking to provide services on a 'pay as you go' or 'fixed fee' basis for discrete or separate pieces of work. 'Unbundling' is an approach whereby the solicitor and client agree which parts of the process the client can undertake without assistance, and which parts they will require some input from a solicitor. This approach is growing in the area of family law. This toolkit provides a suite of tools to assist family solicitors considering unbundling work and new methods of pricing while pointing out the potential risks and how to minimize them. Practical and concise, it contains useful templates and checklists for solicitors wishing to offer unbundled services as a more affordable alternative to the traditional retainer and hourly rates pricing strategy.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has made ethical practice a cornerstone of its new Standards and Regulations that come into operation on 25th November 2019. The new light touch regime requires that solicitors take on much greater responsibility for their own actions, acting ethically at all times. Those who fall short of the high professional standards expected, both when acting in a professional capacity and in personal daily life, run the risk of both adverse publicity and regulatory censure. This 2nd edition* of this unique book explains what ethical legal practice means in daily life and how that fits with the new SRA regime. It is not a strict law book. Instead it uses a wealth of real world examples, hypothetical scenarios and illustrations to ground the SRA requirements firmly within the tricky situations legal practitioners encounter every day. This new edition is also enhanced with a new chapter on the ethics of using lawtech in your practice, a minefield especially when using 'AI' to help decision-making. In doing so it not only helps you minimise the risks of an investigation (or worse) but also helps you become a more confident practitioner when faced with potential ethical traps. Written in a straightforward approachable style, with colourful diagrams and flowcharts to illustrate the key messages, it also covers the evolving use of social media, legal technology and ADR. All this makes the book essential reading for solicitors, trainees, law firm staff and law students everywhere and at every level of seniority.