Market monitor

Global law company Elevate – which bought UK law firm Halebury earlier this year – has secured a $25m (£20m) minority investment as it continues to scale up.

Eversheds Sutherland is to hive off three of its ‘alternative’ legal services teams into an alternative business structure, from which it will seek external investment to help more than double revenue to £100m.

An accountancy firm in Cornwall has set up an alternative business structure to provide will writing, trusts and power of attorney services – which it says is the first one-stop shop of its kind in the county.

Both the claimant and defendant representatives have expressed frustration with the progress of the government’s whiplash reforms, and doubted it will be ready for April 2020 as planned.

General counsel need to embrace technology and innovate in a “seismic” way if they are to endure an increasing bright spotlight from businesses eager to reduce their costs, a report from EY has argued.

Law firms need to become “fluid” and drop traditional resistance to opening themselves to outside talent, with an employed layer of project managers hiring freelance lawyers on a project-by-project basis.

Insurers will start pricing in savings from the whiplash reforms this year, even though the changes may be delayed until late 2020, new research has predicted.

The liquidators of Asons are suing its successor practice, alleging that the controversial law firm was sold at an undervalue, it has emerged. Unsecured creditors have so far claimed they are owned some £28m.

Solicitors have criticised the Ministry of Justice for cutting corners in developing the new whiplash portal “in order to meet the politically driven deadline of April 2020” – and suggested it still cannot be met.

Defendant insurers have agreed to be bound by the outcome of the alternative dispute resolution process being built into the new whiplash system, it has emerged.