Legal Services Act

The plan by Carillion Advice Services to become an alternative business structure looks to be at an end after the business was bought by magic circle firm Clifford Chance. We also report on two private equity backed ABSs that have used their financial muscle to expand, and a private client firm that has decided to enter regulation with the CLC.

Conveyancers saw their first annual drop in workload since 2011 last year, with volumes down 12% to under a million transactions, according to new research. It also found that the number of conveyancing firms has dropped by 28% over the past decade.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel is on the hunt for a new chair after the incumbent jumped ship after just a year to become a member of the Office for Legal Complaints, the body that oversees the Legal Ombudsman. Meanwhile, the Law Society has named the members of its new main board, a key part of its new governance structure.

The government plans to introduce its whiplash reforms in April 2019, it emerged today. The Motor Accident Solicitors Society said it has today been told that ministers have agreed for the personal injury reforms to be implemented from that date, with an initial focus on RTA.

The Legal Ombudsman has ruled out investigating complaints about unregulated legal services, or collecting data about them, without a new source of funding. The service said it would be “inappropriate” to use money raised by a levy on the profession for this purpose.

The time for just talking about new ways of doing things in the law is over as clients “turn their backs on the pricing and delivery models that law firms have traditionally sold them”, a leading banker has warned. He said a “palpable shift” in thinking and serious investment in new technologies and delivery methods were now strategic priorities.

An alternative business structure launched at the end of last year to invest in profitable “local hero” law firms, has already taken over one practice this year and is on the verge of taking a share in another. London-based Echelon Law offers back-office support and has a particular focus on firms of one to three partners.

A Brexit deal that mirrors the free trade agreement Canada has with the EU would be equivalent to a ‘no deal’ outcome for legal services, the Law Society warned today. It would also exclude issues such as co-operation in civil and criminal justice matters, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments.

Listed law firm consolidator Gordon Dadds Group has made its second acquisition in as many weeks with a deal to buy Bristol firm Metcalfes Solicitors for an initial £2m, rising to a possible £6m. It also comes just days after Metcalfes acquired fellow generalist Bristol firm Burroughs Day from administration.

The ownership structure of law firms is “completely irrelevant” when assessing risk, a director of the Solicitors Regulation Authority said yesterday. Crispin Passmore also reaffirmed the regulator’s determination to change the approach to the minimum cover limit for professional indemnity insurance.