Market monitor

Transferring the ownership of law firms to employee ownership trusts (EOTs) boosts staff loyalty by giving them more security if the firm is sold, the chief executive of the latest firm to create an EOT has said.

There has been a spate of merger and acquisition activity among law firms across the country over recent weeks, with listed firm Knights yesterday entering Birmingham in a £4.7m deal.

The English arm of international law firm Reed Smith has become an alternative business structure as it looks to “future proof” its practice by offering non-legal services and hiring non-lawyer partners.

The Ministry of Justice has refused to give way to the concerns of claimant groups that children who suffer whiplash injuries lasting less than nine months will be denied access to justice under next April’s reforms.

The Ministry of Justice is continuing to work towards April 2020 to implement the whiplash reforms despite the upcoming election, it has confirmed.

A “single source of truth” that contains all the information about a property before it goes on the market is in the works as part of plans to speed up the home buying and selling process, it has emerged.

The largest legal needs survey ever run in England and Wales shows what a difference professional advice and ‘legal confidence’ among consumers makes to the outcome of their matters.

There are “many good reasons” for larger law firms to considering listing on the stock market, especially with growing competition from alternative legal services providers, a survey has warned.

The Welsh Government should develop and implement as soon as possible a detailed strategy to “reinvigorate the rural and post-industrial legal sector” in Wales, a major report has recommended.

Top-40 accountancy firm Streets has become the latest to add legal services to its offering with an alternative business structure licence – making it only the seventh top-100 firm to do so.

Slater & Gordon is closing one office and in consultation over closing another as it continues to rationalise its practice since becoming the first law firm owned by a hedge fund.

Slater & Gordon has settled its claim against what was Quindell Group on the eve of trial – for just £11m, or 1.7% of the £637m claim. There were no admissions of liability.

Trade union firm Thompsons has produced a last-minute offer involving non-monetary benefits and profit shares to stave off staff picketing its offices across the country today in a dispute over pay.

Almost all of the share-owning partners at listed law firm Gateley have locked themselves in for a further five years under an agreement that restricts how much of their holding they can sell.

Husband and wife barristers have taken over a niche motor trade law firm this month, which has been offering fixed fees since the 1990s and offers an end-to-end legal service.