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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.

The High Court will hear an appeal by the Solicitors Regulation Authority later this month for tougher sanctions on two West Midlands solicitors, suspended for their involvement in a collapsed Brazilian property investment scheme. But the scheme’s liquidators have “reluctantly” decided not pursue legal action against their firm.

The Law Society has issued its first slavery and human trafficking statement, in compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, emphasising its commitment to ensuring that “such practices have no place within its supply chain or other activities”.

The fall-out from the decision that the Law Society breached competition law looks set to last for several more months after the Competition Appeal Tribunal laid out the timetable for determining damages. It also ordered the society to pay Socrates Training’s costs up to a maximum of the approved budget of £230,000.

Partners at a leading personal injury law firm have lost a professional negligence action against the accountants who recommended they sign up to two ultimately unsuccessful tax mitigation schemes. They succeeded at every stage of their claim only to fall at the last when the judge ruled that they brought the action out of time.

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.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has overridden the objections of the Solicitors Regulation Authority to lift a supervision order imposed on a legal executive after misconduct that took place almost 20 years ago. He had made four false travel expense claims on three fictitious client files.

The Bar Standards Board is to review the role of the Inns of Court in the training of barristers, it has emerged. Among the issues are applying admission requirements, approving pupil supervisors, providing training courses for pupils and student discipline.

A ‘virtual’ chambers that supports direct access work has set up an alternative business structure, as has a niche financial services chambers, which become the second and third to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board. It licensed its first ABS, a collaboration between a London chambers and football agents, earlier this month.