Market monitor

London law firm Gordon Dadds has agreed the reverse takeover that will see it become a listed company and outlined an ambitious acquisition strategy to double its £25m revenue over the next three years by becoming a “major consolidator” of both top 200 law firms and also smaller practices through a back-office platform that it has developed.

Smaller law firms specialising in insolvency work will be hit with a double whammy as Brexit favours big firms that can keep debt recovery costs down, while an Online Court will make it easier for litigants in person to pursue claims, a report has predicted. But the overall picture for law firms handling insolvency work was bright, it said.

London law firm Gordon Dadds is set to become a public company through a reverse takeover of AIM-listed Work Group that values the firm at nearly £19m, it announced this afternoon. Alongside the acquisition, Work Group – an investing company – intends to raise up to £20m via an accelerated bookbuild placing of up to 457m shares to institutional investors.

Slater & Gordon has settled the first of three shareholder class action it is facing for A$36.5m (£21.6m), which the claimants’ solicitor said represented just a small fraction of their losses but was a better than “the diabolical alternative which meant likely insolvency for Slater & Gordon”.

Listed law firm Gateley has announced strong results for its last financial year, with revenue up 16% to £78m and profit before tax jumping 19% to £13m, alongside increased equity participation among staff. Shareholders at the first listed alternative business structure are set to receive a final dividend of 4.4p.

Two alternative business structures have moved to extend their reach to corporate finance advisory work with separate joint ventures. Cardiff-based Greenaway Scott Group has launched a boutique as part of a joint venture with Lime Finance, while Needle Partners in Leeds has teamed up with Sheffield-based corporate advice firm Mackenzie Spencer.

Andrew Grech has stood down as group chief executive of Slater & Gordon after a recapitalisation deal was agreed with its lenders that will see them take control of the embattled law firm. The deal is intended to provide the firm with “a sustainable level of senior secured debt and a stable platform for its future operation”, it said.

Shares in Fairpoint Group have been temporarily suspended after its bank pulled its backing for the legal services business. The company said that because AIB Group (UK) plc was unwilling to provide the level of on-going support it had requested, it was unable to sign-off the audit of its 2016 annual report and accounts.

There needs to be work to ensure the underlying legal system for smart contracts is English or UK law as part of efforts to Brexit-proof the UK legal system, the Chancellor of the High Court said last week. Sir Geoffrey Vos said: “It remains crucial that we lead the world in legal services post-Brexit.”

Alternative business structures account for just 5% of all law firms but nearly 12% of total turnover in a market worth £22.3bn, the annual snapshot of the solicitors’ profession has shown. It also revealed that women will become the majority of practising solicitors this year.

Hudgell Solicitors – the personal injury firm that publicised its willingness to buy firms, departments and files through the website webuyanyfiles.com – has another three transactions in the wings, which will take it to 35 deals since the Jackson reforms were implemented in 2013.

Online Legal Services Ltd – the company that runs the pioneering Divorce-Online website – has acquired south Wales family law firm Peter Thomas Law, Legal Futures can reveal. It will enable Divorce-Online to capture the work arising from more complex divorces that is currently outsourced to other solicitors.

Obelisk Support – the outsourcing business that uses former City solicitors to provide temporary support services to in-house teams and law firms – has hit the 1,000-lawyer mark. Set up in 2010, it has doubled in size in less than three years and founder Dana Denis-Smith said she hoped to do so again in the next two years.

NAHL plc – the AIM-listed owner of National Accident Helpline – has lined up a second alternative business structure joint venture as it bids to double the cases it handles over the coming years, it has emerged in the wake of last week’s announcement of its first, Your Law, in association with NewLaw Solicitors.

NAHL, the marketing business that owns National Accident Helpline, is to launch its own law firm after being awarded an alternative business structure licence and signing a deal with Cardiff-based NewLaw Solicitors. It will trade under the name Your Law LLP and is expected to start business on 1 July.