Market monitor

The top 50 law firms had nearly £6bn of unpaid client invoices on their balance sheets last year and would be better prepared for another crisis like Covid if they reduced this, an analysis has argued.

Mergers of law firms are “not a time for consensus because decisions must be made” and the fact partners may have to cede control “must be debated and not hidden”, a report has warned.

The world’s largest law firm, Dentons, has launched a standalone advisory firm backed by private equity with the aim of building a vast multidisciplinary offering across the globe.

More than half of legal services workers will lose their jobs and those that remain will be forced to take “performance-enhancing medication”, a “disruptive” vision of 2050 has envisaged.

National law firm Shoosmiths has spun its debt recovery practice into an alternative business structure joint venture with collections, recoveries and enforcement company Chartsbridge.

Slater & Gordon has launched ‘miplatform’, what it says is a ‘first of its kind’ digital legal service that enables clients to progress their matters with little or no direct contact with a lawyer.

An acquisitive North-West law firm and a private equity investor have joined forces to offer a service for insolvency practitioners looking to sell distressed consumer practices.

The proportion of consumers going on review websites to help find their lawyer has hit double figures, while a majority would use a firm anywhere in the country, research has found.

Shares in DWF jumped 12% to their pre-Covid level after the only law firm listed on the main London Stock Exchange revealed a strong performance in the last financial year.

NAHL plc is set to sell its residential conveyancing business as it looks to focus on growing its personal injury law firm in the wake of a difficult Covid-affected year for the business.