Market monitor

A new report has spelt out the “formidable” competition the Big Four accountants could become in the legal market, given that the three largest of them alone turnover more than the biggest 100 law firms in the world combined. It was published in the wake of Deloitte becoming the last member of the Big Four to apply for an ABS licence.

Times are tough for claimant personal injury lawyers, but while many expect substantial consolidation in the market over the coming 18 months, competition is becoming fiercer than ever, according to new research. Advertising spend and costs were spiralling upwards both online and on TV as firms look to grab greater shares of the market.

The UK has its first law firm owned by a hedge fund after Slater & Gordon’s UK operation completed its separation from the Australian parent. The newly independent business has appointed a chief executive in the shape of the former vice-chairman of an American technology company.

Premier League footballers including former Manchester United and England striker Andrew Cole are set to be among high-profile sporting clients of a law firm that has taken investment from a sports and media group after becoming an alternative business structure.

‘Silver splitters’ are finding their way to a pioneering online divorce service, which uses divorce coaches instead of lawyers as part of its goal of making the process as painless and low-cost as possible. Amicable App, launched in January this year, has recently raised £473,000 from a range of angel investors.

National law firm Simpson Millar is set to make at least 20% of its workforce redundant as part of a restructuring that follows its listed parent company going into administration earlier this year. The firm said the changes were designed “to put in place a sustainable cost base following substantial under-investment under the ownership of Fairpoint Group PLC”.

Efficiency innovations implemented by in-house counsel at just five big companies – such as artificially intelligent (AI) contract review – have brought annual savings totalling more than half a million hours of lawyer time, according to new guide. Similar savings were being made by legal departments in thousands of other companies globally, it said, driving change in law firms that have traditionally relied on the work.

Slater & Gordon is set to avoid insolvency after nearly 70% of shareholders approved a recapitalisation plan which will see its senior lenders – led by American hedge fund Anchorage Capital – take control in a debt-for-equity deal.

A greater focus on specialist sectors is seen by senior managers as the biggest opportunity for law firms over the next two to three years, a survey has found. It comes at a time when firms believe that competitive pressures have increased but almost all are confident about the future.

The government yesterday damped down hopes that it would consider funding greater access to early legal advice. Support for a restore legal aid for early advice has been growing, with justice committee chairman Bob Neill MP and Supreme Court president Baroness Hale among those to talk up its benefits.