Market monitor

Slater & Gordon is closing one office and in consultation over closing another as it continues to rationalise its practice since becoming the first law firm owned by a hedge fund.

Slater & Gordon has settled its claim against what was Quindell Group on the eve of trial – for just £11m, or 1.7% of the £637m claim. There were no admissions of liability.

Trade union firm Thompsons has produced a last-minute offer involving non-monetary benefits and profit shares to stave off staff picketing its offices across the country today in a dispute over pay.

Almost all of the share-owning partners at listed law firm Gateley have locked themselves in for a further five years under an agreement that restricts how much of their holding they can sell.

Husband and wife barristers have taken over a niche motor trade law firm this month, which has been offering fixed fees since the 1990s and offers an end-to-end legal service.

The Ministry of Justice has provided an unsatisfactory response to a Freedom of Information Act request on how the figures for the new whiplash damages tariff were calculated, lawyers have claimed.

Many court closures in the past have not been based on the real travelling times it would take people to get to an alternative building, the chief executive of the courts service has admitted.

One of the country’s largest and fastest-growing personal injury law firms has announced record results and its ambition to expand further despite next year’s Civil Liability Act reforms.

The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice has downplayed the recent 4.9% boost to its resources budget, saying it would in part simply help to “keep the lights on”.

Large City and international firms outsourcing legal and non-legal functions to lower-cost centres elsewhere in the UK produces significant benefits for those areas, a report has found.