Market monitor

A north-west law firm has launched a referral scheme for other solicitors, against a national backdrop where the survival of networks formerly in Pannone’s Connect2Law suggests the model is alive and well.

The US law firm that pioneered the model of senior lawyers leaving big firms to take control of their own practices – and is the biggest of its kind – has opened in London, Legal Futures can reveal.

Community care legal aid “could disappear altogether” as a specialism as advice deserts expand, the Law Society has warned. Some 79% of local authorities now have no publicly funded services.

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee last week put off approving the rules for the new whiplash portal until next month, making the April start-date all-but impossible.

An alternative business structure that combines legal and political advice has hired Theresa May’s former chief of staff as well as a former chief of the defence staff.

Seven legal advice services have received support in the latest round of grants from the Access to Justice Foundation, which has been boosted by a major pledge from a well-known London law firm.

Large law firms are damaging their profitability by poor scoping of work and under-pricing it, and are also set to penalise lawyers who offer clients overly large discounts, a survey has found.

Merger activity among law firms continues apace, with deals done across the country – including a leading criminal legal aid practice that has completed two in rapid succession and is on the hunt for more.

An alternative business structure owned equally by two law firms and an accountancy practice has recorded a 1,200% surge in post-tax profits.

Lawyers in the US capital Washington DC are the latest in America to try and remove the ban on ABSs, while the president of the American Bar Association is backing efforts to rethink regulation.

Shares in NAHL plc – owner of National Accident Helpline – crashed today after it said uncertainty in the personal injury market would significantly affect its performance in 2020.

Knights has unveiled its second acquisition this year – and seventh in little over 18 months as a listed company – with a £2.8m deal to buy a housing industry law firm in Manchester.

Ministers remain committed to whiplash reform but are considering whether the new portal can actually go live on 6 April, a senior Ministry of Justice official admitted yesterday.

The Buying and Selling Property Information – the “single source of truth” that contains all the information about a property before it goes on the market – is set to be piloted in the coming weeks.

Any significant change to the expected rules governing the new personal injury portal will make its introduction in April unlikely, the man charged with building the system has warned.