Latest news

Hampshire law firm Moore Blatch has teamed up with national spinal injury charity Aspire to launch the first alternative business structure of its kind. Aspire Law will open for business on 3 November, offering a specialist service to people with spinal cord injuries.

KPMG has become the second member of the ‘Big Four’ accountants to be awarded an alternative business structure licence. However, unlike PwC, KPMG said it has no intention of developing a standalone legal practice.

Mergers have been announced across the country in recent days, with firms of all sizes and practice areas choosing to join forces. There is usually a rush of mergers each year timed to coincide with the 30 September deadline to secure professional indemnity insurance.

Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executors (CILEx) could be carrying out litigation without supervision by solicitors from the end of November, it has emerged.

Ignorance of the rules is no defence where there have been breaches, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has told claims management companies (CMCs) in guidance notes for a new set of rules which come into force today.

Stuart Gillespie, founder of recruitment company G2 Legal, has set up a commercial law alternative business structure with his in-house solicitor, Lucy Tarrant. They are partners in Cognitive Law LLP.

A former solicitor who stole almost £1m through stamp duty fraud has been sentenced to ten years in jail. Shameer Sacranie, 40, from Leicester is believed to have fled the country and was sentenced in his absence last week.

Legal entrepreneur Brad Askew has relaunched a property website for landlords, which attracts up to 600,000 unique visits a year. The Tenancy Agreement Service is aimed particularly at the 78% of Britain’s 3.5m private landlords who only let one property.

Quindell plc told investors today that it cannot explain the latest slide in its volatile share price. The alternative business structure closed at 136.5p on Friday, down nearly 10% on the day and 35% since announcing its first-half results on 21 August.

A law firm has won an injunction against a former client who set up websites about the firm with its name in the URL, after the High Court deemed his actions to be harassment. The injunction also covered Rick Kordowski, who ran the infamous SolicitorsFromHell.co.uk website.