Market monitor

A website offering free legal advice to injured cyclists has been launched with the aim of removing the need for solicitors and saving victims “an average of £800”. It offers a possible vision of the future if the small claims limit goes up as intended by the government.

US-based medical reports giant ExamWorks – which owns leading UK provider Premex – has bought a personal injury firm as part of its acquisition of leading accident management group Kindertons. Jigsaw Law was originally a claims management company but was granted an alternative business structure licence in late 2012.

Listed law firm Gateley has made its biggest acquisition to date, and first of a law firm, with a £4.15m deal to buy Surrey property firm GCL Solicitors, while also announcing an 8% increase in turnover over the past year. The deal brings in 79 new members of staff, including six partners.

The market capitalisation of Rosenblatt, which last week became the fourth law firm to go public, has already risen by £10m on the back of a strong start to trading. Its chief executive is planning a regional acquisition to provide a lower-cost offering for corporate transactions and to create a standalone litigation funding business.

The Association of British Insurers has hit back angrily at yesterday’s justice select committee report criticising the government’s plan to raise the small claims limit, saying that it “read like a shopping list of asks from the claimant lawyers”. Claimant lawyers, by contrast, have called on the Ministry of Justice to adopt the committee’s recommendations.

The small claims limit for personal injury should rise by inflation to £1,500, rather than the higher levels proposed by the government, MPs on the justice select committee have recommended. In a major boost to claimant lawyers, the committee found little credibility in much of the government’s case for raising the limit.

Small and mid-sized law firms need to accept that lower levels of profitability are becoming the “new normal”, it was claimed yesterday. Their income is also falling, with firms of 11-25 partners recording the biggest drop last year – 11% – compared to only 1% for sole practitioners.

Two family law barristers have set up what is believed to be the first service allowing separating couples to obtain advice from a single legal expert at any point in the process. They are launching The Divorce Surgery as an alternative business structure regulated by the Bar Standards Board later this week.

Unregulated online legal services company Rocket Lawyer has received a waiver to allow practising solicitors to advise its clients, Legal Futures can reveal. Peninsula – the business services giant that owns Croner – has its own waiver, and is highlighting to potential customers the benefits of privilege that come with it, we can also report.

Slater & Gordon announced today that it will invest over £30m on new technology and broadening its services over the next three years – with volume conveyancing a target – as the firm looks to put the troubles of the past behind it. Legal Futures was given the first trade interview with the firm’s CEO about his vision for the future.

The government stood firm on its proposed whiplash reforms yesterday despite criticism from peers, on the first day of the Civil Liability Bill’s committee stage in the House of Lords. Though dozens of amendments were put down, none was pushed to a vote but may well be revisited at the bill’s report stage.

Technology will revolutionise the way we educate, train, and utilise legal expertise, a senior judge has predicted. Sir Geoffrey Vos, chancellor of the High Court, laid out a vision of the future where training might depend on whether people wanted to be a ‘social lawyer’, a ‘human rights lawyer’ or a ‘business lawyer.

David Gauke, the justice secretary and Lord Chancellor, has admitted that the Ministry of Justice is feeling “a little frustrated” by the direct action taken by criminal law barristers over legal aid fees. Shortly after, the Criminal Bar Association recommended that its members “escalate” their current action by instituting a ‘no returns’ policy from 25 May.

The government yesterday defeated a Labour attempt to annul the legislation changing the scheme through which criminal defence advocates are paid for carrying out publicly funded work in the Crown Court, which has led to over 100 chambers declining instructions. However, there was also recognition that the criminal Bar needed greater support.

City law firm Rosenblatt today became the fourth law firm to be admitted to AIM. The share placement, which was significantly oversubscribed, raised approximately £43m and gave the 19-partner firm, which is best known for its litigation work, a market capitalisation of £76m.