Market monitor

The total number of law firms registering conveyancing transactions rose 4% in 2016 to 5,572, halting five years going the other way, and they are busier than before the financial crash, new figures have shown. However, the overall trend of active conveyancing firms has been steeply downwards in the last decade.

A solicitor and barrister who act for an anti-asbestos campaign are in a legal battle over what confidential and privileged information was passed on by a supposed TV documentary maker who was actually placed in the campaign to spy on its activities.

The recovery of Slater & Gordon’s UK business is going “slower than expected”, with trading results being adjusted downwards as a result, and the negative mood about the firm is now hitting its home business in Australia, it has admitted in a trading update that appeared to be preparing investors for disappointing half-year results later this month.

Justice minister Sir Oliver Heald has struck a bullish tone of defiance in response to concerns that Germany and the Netherlands are creating English-language commercial courts to compete with the UK for disputes post Brexit.

Baker McKenzie, the world’s second biggest law firm, has announced plans to introduce due diligence software based on machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, as part of an innovation drive that looks to import ‘design thinking’ into how it delivers legal services.

Most listed UK businesses with a strong legal element did not prove good investments in 2016, although litigation finance business Burford Capital and national law firm Gateley both bucked the trend in eye-catching fashion, a Legal Futures analysis has found.

Two barristers have launched a Bar Standards Board-regulated entity offering commercial advice as an alternative to traditional chambers, hoping to pass on the savings from low overheads to clients. Lorna Hackett and David Dabbs have formed Hampshire-based Hackett & Dabbs.

Large law firms should consider becoming “general contractors” to manage their clients’ disaggregated legal needs amidst growing demand from in-house lawyers to use alternative legal services providers – with the Big Four accountants a threat “that cannot be overstated” – a new report has suggested.

Lawyers must be prepared to give their clients advice rather than a range of options, the managing director of a fast-growing wealth management and legal services firm has said. The Progeny Group has doubled in size in the past year to 70 staff, including 15 lawyers, and aims to grow just as quickly this year.

Lawyers who attract a sufficient number of positive client reviews are able to charge higher fees, the head of an online lawyer-matching service has claimed. He also said that having a single “odd-ball review” among a dozen good reviews could increase a lawyer’s standing.