Market monitor

Law firms are adopting new technology in wide variety of ways, contradicting the received wisdom that they have been slow to embrace change, according to a new report.

The government should only reject peers’ advice about the use of secondary legislation to enact key parts of legislation like the Civil Liability Bill if there are “clear and compelling reasons”.

A fast-growing Welsh law firm is poised to make its first significant acquisition, which could give it a presence in England for the first time.

The draft Brexit agreement published yesterday maintains the ability for UK lawyers to operate in the EU as now, and vice versa, during the transition period that runs until December 2020.

Many law firms have failed to invest in their debt and uninsured loss recovery teams, creating a “gap in the market”, according to one looking to double its £6.5m turnover in three years.

The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice has told MPs that two of its main spending assumptions have turned out to be “fundamentally unrealistic”.

Rob Terry, founder and former executive chairman of claims-handling giant Quindell, has invested £750,000 in a claims management joint venture, it has emerged.

The government was put under pressure yesterday by the Conservative chair of the justice select committee to admit that it had gone too far in its cuts to legal aid and made justice “transactional”.

Online will providers are 77% cheaper than solicitors on average, new research has found, while the value of wills and probate services is set to increase by £200m to £1.5bn by 2023.

The Ministry of Justice is among the government departments “facing further large budget cuts over the next five years” on the basis of this week’s Budget, a leading think tank has predicted.

Lawyers have been urged to look at radical new approaches to ‘rebrand’ justice so as to build public and political understanding of its value.

Gordon Dadds is set to become the largest listed law firm in the world by revenue after agreeing terms to acquire City practice Ince & Co for around £43m plus share options.

A “disastrous IT failure” suffered by a law firm’s biggest client tipped it over the edge into administration and a pre-pack sale to fast-growing national firm Taylor Rose TTKW.

National chambers Clerksroom has recruited two barristers based in County Mayo, Ireland, in expectation of a lot of legal work arising from Brexit.

The government will need to fill in the detail of the Civil Liability Bill carefully to avoid a new outbreak of litigation because of claimants trying to “game the system”.