News

Law firms will need a turnover of at least £75m to list on the stock exchange, a leading investment banker said this week. This is because “the public markets prefer larger businesses at the moment” and smaller ones may struggle with liquidity.

Alternative business structures should not be introduced until stronger provisions are put in place to stop those convicted of dishonesty from taking a stake in them, a leading Conservative peer has said. Lord Hunt of Wirral called on the government to introduce exceptions to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

A leading disability charity has mounted a judicial review of the government’s civil costs reforms, saying ministers have failed to consider properly “the devastating impact” their proposals could have on disabled people.

The growth of separate representation of lender and borrower in residential property deals has prompted the Council of Mortgage Lenders to draft instructions for conveyancers acting solely for lenders. The move has been welcomed by a leading body representing conveyancers.

Law firms are reporting diminishing interest in external investment and alternative business structures, a new survey has found. The Legal Services Act Index, produced by Baker Tilly, found that 50% of respondents were considering an outside investor, compared to 60% last autumn.

The overlap between regulated and unregulated legal services is causing consumer confusion, with online services emerging as a particular problem, the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has warned. LeO said it needs more clarity about the limits of its jurisdiction as the market is already changing and innovating.

Fifteen south Wales law firms are set to merge back-office operations and link up with a leading chambers with a view to bidding for a criminal legal aid contract as a single business. It is a move that could foreshadow the future organisation of criminal defence work.

The Jackson reforms could “impact negatively on some of the most seriously injured or disabled claimants”, an influential committee of MPs has warned. It also called for a review of the regulation of claims management companies amid concerns about their role in clinical negligence claims.

A sizeable slice of corporate lawyers is misunderstanding the fundamental drivers of client satisfaction, according to new research which also found that less than a fifth of general counsel have final choice over selecting external legal advisers.

A single regulator for all legal services is “logical and plausible”, but not inevitable, a report for the Legal Services Board has concluded. Former Ministry of Justice official Nick Smedley argued that the existence of multiple regulators “focused on the differences of individual practitioners” is unlikely to be relevant in a post-alternative business structures market.