In response to subscriber feedback By Lawyers has enhanced content relating to staff training and continuing competence requirements. Additional guidance on the topic has been added to the Practice Management commentary and a new precedent ‘Training and development schedule’ provided. This precedent will help subscribers plan, review and record continuing competence activities as required by The Law Society and SRA.

The By Lawyers commercial lease guides have been updated to include guidance, templates and letters for licence applications, including food, entertainment and alcohol related licences, for commercial properties.

New commercial law AI prompts have been added to the Companies, Trusts, Partnerships and Joint Ventures guides.

New AI prompts for estate administration matters enable estate administration practitioners to work more efficiently.

The Family Procedure Rules have been updated to allow all family courts to issue transparency orders.

The By Lawyers Criminal Offences App has been updated to include new sentencing guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council for strangulation and suffocation offences. Read more...

Delay does not necessarily defeat proceedings for contempt of court.

There is a newly added section in our commentaries, offering a streamlined summary of the key steps legal practitioners follow throughout the legal process. Read more…

Part of our series of common legal questions and their answers, we look at the steps for applying to the Court of Protection to be a deputy. Read more...

The matter plans in each guide have been reviewed to give a practical flow to matters and ensure that documents are in the right place for easy location and use. Read more...

Following a request from a user, we have added letters before action for three of the most common estate disputes. Read more...

The Immigration commentary has been updated to include information regarding family asylum claims, child asylum seekers, overstayers and human rights claims. The matter plan now includes a Letter supporting application for a skilled worker visa.

Following user feedback we have published two new drafted commercial leases which are available on the Commercial Lease - Acting for Landlord matter plan. In addition to the Law Society standard leases, we now have a new commercial lease drafted in By Lawyers plain English style. The Commercial lease - Optimised presentation is formatted to present matter-specific information in the initial pages of the document, with the boiler-plate clauses which need no amendment in the following pages. A new Commercial lease - Standard presentation is also available. The commentary has also been updated with a discussion of the reasons why the optimised style is more useful for clients and practitioners - not least because all the amendments take place within the first few pages of the lease. Both styles contain all the lease considerations that are usually required. We also have increased the number of optional clauses available to insert into these leases where relevant including: Landlord’s conditions of consent to underletting clause Landlord’s conditions of consent to assignment clause Landlord's break clause Tenant's break clause Parking space clause We invite you to explore these new documents. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

The By Lawyers Sale and Purchase of Business guides have been reviewed and updated to ensure that the commentaries and precedents are in line with current law and conveyancing practice. As with all our guides, they take a practical approach, drawing on our authors’ considerable experience to cover all aspects of procedure, with a focus on practical tips that will help solicitors and conveyancers confidently run a sale or business purchase matter to completion. We invite you to explore this updated publication and to consider the wealth of assistance the guide offers for solicitors and conveyancers acting in the sale or purchase of a business.

The By Lawyers Sale of Land Guide has been reviewed and updated to ensure that the commentary and precedents are in line with current law and conveyancing practice. The extensive review was performed by our author Marcella King. As with all our authors, Marcella takes a practical approach, drawing on her considerable experience to cover all aspects of procedure, with a focus on practical tips that will help solicitors and conveyancers confidently run a sale matter to completion. The following sections of commentary have been expanded: undertakings are explained in more detail; the unregistered land section has been improved; adverse possession claims and procedures are discussed in greater detail; the process by which contracts are exchanged has been amplified, including a worked example of using Formula C; and post-completion tasks are discussed in greater detail. The following precedents have also been enhanced as part of the review process: Retainer Instructions -Sale of Land; and To do list – Sale We invite you to explore this updated publication and to consider the wealth of assistance the guide offers for solicitors and conveyancers acting in residential sale matters.