News

The latest national marketing organisation for solicitors could be an attractive takeover target for a big brand looking to enter the legal market, its founder has admitted. Lawyers2you, the consumer-facing brand of Birmingham law firm Blakemores, is being rolled out nationally.

The High Court has forced a leading City law firm to hand over the confidential contact details of a client to the other side in a civil action. However, it has blocked an effort to make Clyde & Co also reveal what it knows about the client’s assets.

A host of major businesses are being lined up to offer a new service providing consumers with help to handle a wide range of legal matters for an annual subscription of £59.99, we can reveal. CPP recently launched ‘Your Law’ and is to roll it out to high-profile business partners.

Chrissie Lightfoot argues that the two dominant umbrella business models coming to the fore in legal services can be summed up as “Face to Face” and “Interface”. She says the emergence of a legal franchising model such as face2face solicitors offers a real opportunity for entrepreneurial lawyers to embrace both.

The Law Society could encourage firms to undertake annual pay audits as a way to combat inequality in the solicitors’ profession, we can reveal. It comes as Chancery Lane prepares to publish a flexible working protocol to help law firms embrace the concept.

Criminal law barristers have reached a new low of despondency, the chairman of the Bar Council has told Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke. Peter Lodder QC warned that the government’s legal aid cuts could also see the Bar return to “a professional enclave for the better-off” as students are discouraged by mounting debts.

Turcan Connell has signalled its intention to become one of the first alternative business structures in Scotland, while its joint senior partner has called for law firms to be subject to capital adequacy requirements. Douglas Connell said the introduction of ABSs provides a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for lawyers.

The German Bar has called on its American counterpart to form an international coalition against alternative business structures. The news comes as the American Bar Association prepares to publish a proposed rule change that would allow minority non-lawyer ownership of law firms, with the New York courts set to rule on the issue too.

Co-operative Legal Services is planning a more extensive pilot of face-to-face advice in its bank branches later this year as it bids to become consumers’ “lawyer of choice”, the company has confirmed. The Co-op has also merged its legal and funeral businesses.

Australia’s Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly listed law firm, is “more seriously” evaluating the opportunities available in the UK, the company has revealed. The news comes as S&G and Integrated Legal Holdings – the only other listed legal practice, also in Australia – both announced strong results.