Market monitor

Small law firms have been hit hardest by the lockdown, a survey of the impact of Covid-19 on the profession has found but overall firms have “largely seen only a minor impact on business levels”.

An advocacy services firm which attended over 6,000 hearings last year has become an alternative business structure so it can add qualified advocates to its team of solicitors’ agents.

New instructions have been running at about 70% of the pre-lockdown level over the past two and a half months, but there are definite signs of a revival, with conveyancing roaring back, data shows.

Two young paralegals have launched an unregulated legal contracts business which provides fixed-price services for mainly online businesses in the UK, the USA and Europe.

A group of lawyers has begun crowdfunding to support a new initiative aiming to combat racial injustice by facilitating access to justice, funding and legal representation.

Some law firms suffered “serious falls” in revenue during May and, without a pick-up in new instructions in June and July, “the pain may become unbearable”, new research has warned.

Taylor Rose TTKW is set to pay £1.4m to buy McMillan Williams, which was sunk by slowdowns in both the property market and personal injury settlements, and its high level of gearing, it has emerged.

The new Community Justice Fund has already awarded over £600,000 in grants to the legal advice sector to help it cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The liquidators of Asons have settled their claim against its successor practice, after alleging that the controversial personal injury law firm was sold at an undervalue.

A solicitor and his wife have used WhatsApp video to witness a will made by a man who was very ill with Covid-19, it has emerged.