Legal Services Act

The listed legal sector is a “clear outperformer” against broader markets, with “many more” law firms – both corporate and consumer – likely to come to market, a new analysis has found.

The joint venture between NAHL plc – which owns marketing network National Accident Helpline – and Bristol-based law firm Lyons Davidson has collapsed, it emerged today.

A US-based legal services provider with a London-based alternative business structure focused on processing  routine contract documents is steadily building its European client base.

A former specialist personal injury firm which has diversified into other kinds of volume litigation could quadruple in size by the end of next year.

The Bar Standards Board has been told that it needs to act more quickly on how it plans to educate the public about barristers after its widely criticised decision to stop funding Legal Choices.

Marketing collective First4Lawyers has unveiled a new lead generation model that it says allows firms to pay a fee per enquiry while complying with the referral fee ban.

The Legal Ombudsman is seeking to increase its budget by 20% in the next financial year to “radically” improve the time it takes to deal with complaints and “eliminate all unnecessary waiting time”.

The Ministry of Justice – whose budget has faced major cuts over the past decade – faces having to pay up to £1bn in pensions for part-time judges, according to the claimants’ solicitors.

The seventh law firm to list – although it describes itself as an asset management consultancy – raised £31.4m as its shares began trading last week. MJ Hudson had a market capitalisation of £98m.

The chairman of the Bar Council has hit back at criticism of his attendance at a Chinese legal conference that did not address human rights in the country, saying he was “not an apologist for the Chinese regime”.