Market monitor

The justice secretary said yesterday that innovation and technology, rather than significant increases in legal aid spending, are the way to improve access to justice.

A report on global access to legal services has identified established legal professions led by lawyers as a block to progress and urged them to step aside in favour of non-lawyer leaders.

A cautious business environment, prompted in part by Brexit, is holding back corporate work and its own acquisition activity, listed law firm Rosenblatt said yesterday.

The partners of DWF will “take a haircut” following its proposed stock market listing, but staff will receive free shares as part of the plan to widen equity participation, its chief executive has said.

A “new type of law firm is needed” to respond to next year’s PI reforms, National Accident Helpline has said as it confirmed its new ABS would open in April. Also news from Anexo, Watchstone and S&G.

Knights has unveiled its fourth acquisition in the eight months since it listed with a £10m deal to buy Oxfordshire firm BrookStreet des Roches and saw its share price soar as a result.

Top-25 law firm DWF unveiled its long-anticipated plan to float today, and will be the first law firm to list on the main London Stock Exchange. DWF is thought to be looking to raise £50-100m.

A Manchester law firm taken over last month by an international network of professional services firms is looking to buy a London practice as its first post-acquisition move.

A divorcing husband’s income was equivalent to that of senior judges and more than sufficient for his post-divorce needs, the High Court has ruled.

The Big Four accounting firms are really starting to make their mark in the law, with 23% of large law firms in the UK and US saying they have lost work to them in the past year.

Online legal documents giant Rocket Lawyer is in talks with UK insurance companies to integrate its digital services into their platforms, Legal Futures can reveal.

Pioneering law firm Just Costs Solicitors went into administration on Friday, leading to 26 redundancies. It is effectively the firm’s second administration after the original Just Costs went down in 2017.

Listed law firm Gordon Dadds ended up raising 15% more than the minimum it hoped for from yesterday’s share placing, even though the move wiped a quarter off the company’s value.

Listed law firm Gordon Dadds Group today announced its intention to raise £10m from institutional shareholders to help fund its increasingly international acquisition strategy.

Keystone Law – the most successful listed law firm in 2018 when judged by share price – saw it soar a further 15% yesterday after a positive trading update.