Market monitor

The profession is “on the cusp” of an explosion in solicitor consultants, an expert in a law firm regulation has predicted, saying the number of instructions about such set-ups has trebled.

There will not be an advertising campaign to let the public know about the new way to pursue whiplash claims through the Official Injury Claim portal, it has been confirmed.

A specialist alternative business structure has been bought by a listed company to boost its fast-growing national employment law business and compete with traditional law firms.

The founder of a not-for-profit law firm that operates as a social enterprise says he wants to sit in the “middle ground” between profit-focused law firms and the underfunded legal aid sector.

National profit-share law firm Setfords is embarking on the next stage of its development after taking on Series B private equity investment, with its original investor exiting.

The average fee income per equity partner at law firms with up to seven partners rose by 29% last year despite the pandemic, research has found. But profit per equity partner was static, with margins tumbling.

Conveyancers are facing more cliff edges and greater pressures on their practices following Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to extend the stamp duty holiday.

A senior solicitor at the Environment Agency has won his libel action against the owners of a garden centre business who accused him of professional misconduct in prosecuting one of them.

NAHL – the listed company that owns National Accident Helpline – is to step up its transformation from a claims management company into a law firm, it told investors yesterday.

A consultant-led law firm launched shortly before Covid struck has said that “reflection” by lawyers during lockdown of what they wanted from their lives and careers has aided its expansion.

Conveyancers have urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak not to extend the stamp duty holiday and instead focus on allowing those who have instructed a lawyer by a certain date to complete.

The whiplash reforms will come into force on 31 May, the spring bank holiday, it was confirmed yesterday, as the government finally published the new rules and a marginally increased tariff.

Firms of legal consultants are set for huge growth and will become the dominant business model in the consolidation of the high street and mid-market, a report has predicted.

The pandemic has not stopped activity in the law firm M&A market, with a series of different types of deals announced, as overall the number of law firms continues to drift downwards.

Helping clients cope with the repercussions of climate change could transform the legal profession, a Law Society report has predicted, as lawyers focus on “proactive risk management advice”.