Latest news

The first independent financial adviser to set up a law firm from scratch has added an estate agency to work alongside its alternative business structure. Leicester-based Bobby Dhanjal Legal Services has also brought its first trainee solicitor through to qualification.

The European directive on alternative dispute resolution will not only extend the period for making complaints about lawyers from six to twelve months, but reduce the grounds for the Legal Ombudsman to reject them from 14 to four, it has emerged.

A free version of conveyancing portal Veyo, called Free2Convey, is to be launched by the Legal Software Suppliers Association (LSSA) at the end of this month. Matt Lancaster, chair of the LSSA, said he hoped as many law firms as possible would use it.

Irwin Mitchell has said it is “not involved” in discussions with private equity firm Duke Street to buy part of the Parabis Group, contrary to reports in the Sunday Times. The group admitted today that it has held “discreet discussions with other like-minded businesses” as it considered options to restructure its business.

Only a few large law firms are providing structured retirement advice for their partners, a report has found – unlike the big accountancy firms. The study, of 28 top 100 firms, found three with formal internal schemes.

A barrister has set up a limited company, regulated by the Bar Standards Board, to work as a consultant for a leading City law firm. Jane Walshe said she was the first barrister to be authorised to work in this way.

The slow recovery of Co-operative Legal Services remains on track after it announced a “small underlying profit” of £200,000 for the first six months of 2015. In the same period last year, the poster-child of alternative business structures recorded a £5.1m loss.

Legal apprenticeships funded by the government are on course to start next September, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers have confirmed.

Two listed companies that own significant alternative business structures – Redde and Fairpoint – both announced strong results to the stock exchange today. Turnover at accident management group Redde, which owns NewLaw Solicitors, was up 26% to £249m, while gross profit nearly doubled to £23m.

International law firm DAC Beachcroft’s Claims Solutions Group, which employs 900 people across the UK, became an alternative business structure yesterday. Craig Dickson, chief executive of the group, said the move would help it respond to the “fluid” legal claims market.