Alternative business structures

The Lord Chancellor yesterday hailed the impact of alternative business structures in driving competition and fostering innovation in the legal market.

The level of innovation in the legal market has “stagnated and fallen in some areas” in recent years, but there are a number of encouraging signs for the future, major new research has revealed.

A Court of Appeal judge has called on legal regulators to make public who owns alternative business structures to bring greater transparency to the personal injury market.

Gordon Dadds is set to become the largest listed law firm in the world by revenue after agreeing terms to acquire City practice Ince & Co for around £43m plus share options.

Private-equity backed industrial disease law firm Roberts Jackson has become the latest victim of the squeeze on personal injury practices, and was sold out of administration on Friday.

A global ‘enterprise legal services company’ that effectively owns a London-based ABS is set for massive growth after Europe’s biggest private equity house took a majority stake.

City law firm Rosenblatt has launched a standalone litigation funding business with an initial £2m cash injection from the money it raised from its stock exchange listing in May.

The Co-op has declared itself the largest provider of probate services in the UK as its financials continue to improve. Legal services turnover in the first half of 2018 was up 31% and profits quadrupled.

Simpson Millar has unveiled a five-year £50m growth strategy to become one of a handful of consumer legal brands, starting with the acquisition of Liverpool practice EAD Solicitors.

A US class action law firm has used a new platform created by an alternative business structure to fast-track its UK launch, Legal Futures can reveal.