Alternative business structures

The law firm acting on behalf of hundreds of investors in Quindell has today issued its letter of claim over alleged misrepresentations made by the company. Your Legal Friend – the consumer-facing brand of Liverpool firm Camps – has issued on behalf of an initial claimant group of 342 retail investors.

A pioneering online legal business aimed at SMEs has obtained an alternative business structure licence to reassure clients nervous of engaging with internet-based legal advice services that it is also a regulated law firm.

Pure Legal, the alternative business structure set up by former head of Quindell Legal Services Phil Hodgkinson, has announced its first purchase of a law firm. Pure has bought Pryers, a medical negligence specialist based in York, for £13m.

A Canadian law firm which runs offices inside Walmart supermarkets is planning to almost double in size next year, it has emerged. Mark Morris, co-founder of Axess Law, said the firm could potentially expand into the USA and the UK.

A proposal by CILEx Regulation to make it easier for paralegals to become qualified legal executives has been fiercely rejected as likely to cause “confusion to employers and consumers” by the new voluntary paralegals regulator.

US online legal services provider LegalZoom has made its much-anticipated move in the UK, announcing today that it is to acquire Yorkshire firm Beaumont Legal for its 2016 launch, with more deals potentially to come.

A soldier turned solicitor has set up an alternative business structure with a former special forces officer. Proelium Law aims to provide commercial law, international law and security advice to businesses and other organisations wanting to operate in conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

On its first anniversary, Aspire Law, a unique alternative business structure set up by Hampshire solicitors Moore Blatch and national spinal injury charity Aspire, has good reason to be cheerful. Twelve months on, the joint venture has grown to the point where it is challenging established players in this niche part of the serious injury market.

The government said today that it will “further reduce barriers” to make it easier for alternative business structures, such as supermarkets and estate agents, to offer legal services like conveyancing, probate and litigation. It will also seek the complete separation of regulators from representative bodies.

The Bar Standards Board has reported that its annual income is expected to plummet by almost a quarter (24%) by the end of this financial year, with the smaller than expected number of firms or ‘entities’ that had sought its oversight contributing significantly to the shortfall.