Market monitor

RJW deal shows firms have a realisable value – and are getting “real” about business, say experts

Chris Bull

Slater & Gordon’s takeover of Russell Jones & Walker is evidence that law firms are “joining the real business world” and that there is realisable value in legal practices, leading consultants have said.

February 3rd, 2012

New websites aid solicitors seeking barristers, and consumers seeking solicitors they can trust

Lisa Beale

A new service has been launched that allows solicitors to contact numerous sets of barristers chambers simultaneously to check what counsel are available for a case they are looking to cover. Meanwhile, another online service aimed at helping consumers find tradesmen is now targeting the legal market.

February 2nd, 2012

RJW sets sights on dominating consumer legal market

SLATER&GORDONboardmembers-170810

Russell Jones & Walker aims to use its new access to capital to become one of the two or three players that will “dominate” the consumer legal market in the years to come, its chief executive has said.

January 31st, 2012

Slater & Gordon to enter UK market with £54m purchase of Russell Jones & Walker

Neil Kinsella-lo res

The world’s first listed legal practice, Australia’s Slater & Gordon, is to enter the UK market after agreeing to buy national law firm Russell Jones & Walker for £53.8 million. All of RJW’s principals will continue to work in the new business and are becoming shareholders in S&G.

January 30th, 2012

Rapid consolidation in conveyancing market as hundreds of firms quit

for sale sign

The conveyancing market is consolidating fast, with the big getting bigger and the small getting out, figures from the Land Registry have indicated. Some 1,300 fewer legal practices made applications to the registry for transfers in 2011 than in the previous 12 months.

January 27th, 2012

Quindell adds major accident management business to law firm acquisition

car crash - bashed car

Quindell Portfolio plc – the company which on Tuesday announced its intention to buy Liverpool law firm Silverbeck Rymer – has continued its acquisition spree by taking a 29.9% stake in a major accident management business which will feed work to the firm.

January 26th, 2012

AIM-listed company to buy Liverpool law firm in ABS first

injury

Liverpool law firm Silverbeck Rymer is set to become the first legal practice acquired by a listed company, it was announced this morning. AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio plc is to spend £19.3m on the leading personal injury firm.

January 24th, 2012

Brighton firm to license name and back-office support to “entrepreneurial” solicitors

penina shepherd

An award-winning Brighton business law firm is to license out its brand and back-office support to solicitors who want to set up their own practices. The aim is to have at least 10 Acumen Business Law licensees in the south-east at the end of the first year.

January 23rd, 2012

Exclusive: Birmingham and Westminster councils to offer legal advice via webcam in libraries

Modern library

Birmingham and Westminster city councils are teaming up with legal video conferencing business Instant Law to provide library users with free access to online advice, Legal Futures can reveal.

January 19th, 2012

Consumers call for fixed fees as small law firms struggle

graph going up

Law firms and other legal providers that offer consumers fixed fees “are likely to have a clear competitive advantage” over those that bill by the hour, new research has shown. It also forecasts that the legal market will grow this year, mainly thanks to larger law firms, with smaller ones struggling.

January 17th, 2012