Practice Management
Law Society: Climate change a “valid” reason to reject clients
Climate-related issues may be “valid considerations” for law firms in deciding whether to act for potential clients, the Law Society has said.
Law firms failing to help general counsel stay up-to-date
Most general counsel spend at least five hours a week keeping up-to-date with legal developments but law firms are not delivering the content they need.
Profession “gives least support to lawyers caring for relatives”
The legal profession gives least support to lawyers caring for relatives who are not their children, while lawyers without children are also often overlooked, a poll of freelance lawyers has found.
Private equity house backs fourth law firm acquisition
The private equity house looking to building a £100m legal services group has made its fourth acquisition with a bolt-on for Lancashire firm Farleys.
Law Society research highlights solicitor wellbeing woes
Solicitors score lower than the UK average on all positive measures of wellbeing, and are more likely to rate their anxiety higher, Law Society research has revealed.
Employee ownership specialists become employee owned
A law firm specialising in employee ownership, which has advised other law firms on setting up employee ownership trusts, has itself become 100% owned by its employees.
Bolt-ons and regional deal buck quiet M&A market
Merger and acquisition activity has been slow in the first quarter of 2023, but there have been niche bolt-ons, a Kent merger and a chambers merger too.
Corporate work to drive legal market growth in 2023
The legal services market should see a year of steady growth in 2023, with corporate law the main driver, and family law and probate demand also strong, new research has predicted.
SME firms performing well even though chargeable hours fall
Small and mid-sized law firms had a good year financially in 2021/22 but could perform better still if their fee-earners were billing the hours they should, research has found.
PE-backed family law firm makes second acquisition in a year
A second acquisition in a year by private equity-owned Stowe Family Law leads the way in our round-up of the latest activity among alternative business structures.
Blog
Why law firms are getting AI supervision wrong
The profession’s response to AI supervision failures misunderstands the nature of LLM output – there needs to be for a shift in the culture.
Beyond the PII premium – rethinking risk
Professional indemnity insurance renewal is often treated as an annual pricing exercise. But it is also a chance to show how effectively you identify, manage and mitigate risk.
The AI governance gap in law firms and why it matters now
A third of law firms are already using AI tools with no formal policy in place to govern how AI gets used, what data goes into it, or who’s accountable when something goes wrong.
Reports
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