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A former Solicitor General has contrasted government pressure on the Solicitors Regulation Authority to prosecute human rights firm Leigh Day with its hands-off approach to solicitors criticised by Parliament for advising companies on tax avoidance.

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.

The Law Commission has set its sights on England and Wales becoming the first major jurisdiction in the world to allow electronic wills by proposing that the Lord Chancellor is given the power to introduce them by statutory instrument. It has also proposed giving the courts the power to treat a document as a will where the formalities are not followed.

A couple who became ill after a holiday in Egypt have won what it is believed to be the first court victory since the appeal judges’ ruling in Wood v TUI Travel at the start of this year. But, at the same time, Thomas Cook has claimed a victory of its own by winning a declaration that two claimants had been fundamentally dishonest in their sickness claims.

A solicitor who “misused his position and duped his business partner” – leading to the SRA Compensation Fund paying about nearly £170,000 – has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. In one instance, the second partner had withdrawn £21,000 from the firm’s bank and brought it back to the office in her handbag.

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.

There is a “clear perception” among most family law clients that barristers are more expensive than solicitors and other legal services providers, major research commissioned by the Bar Standards Board has found. Only 13% of those surveyed used a barrister at all, and just 12% of these contacted the barrister directly.

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.