Practice Management

There are “high expectations” among law firm leaders of consolidation in the legal services market during 2021 and beyond, research has found – although there is often little strategy behind deals.

As many as 3,000 law firms could be forced to close or merge over the next few years after the conveyancing bubble bursts and the recession really kicks in, a leading law firm consultant has warned.

Homeworking has led to many solicitors at small firms experiencing feelings of isolation and lack of motivation – but also most want it to continue in some form post-Covid, a survey has found.

Shakespeare Martineau has outlined its ambition to be a top 30 law firm by 2025 as it rolls out its unique new ‘house of brands’ strategy, with “crowdfunding” staff investment one possible way to raise finance.

Some of the measures used by law firms to tackle a lack of gender diversity in senior roles could be “ineffective or even counter-productive”, a report has found.

The market for professional indemnity insurance is likely to continue to worsen but future premium rises should not be at the average of 17% seen this autumn, a leading broker has predicted.

Midlands-based law firm Shakespeare Martineau has outlined a strategy to attract mergers, acquisitions and hires to a “house of brands” and double in size by 2023.

The family law firm that made national news recently after details of its dress code were leaked has secured an order to prevent a former employee from disclosing further information.

This year’s indemnity insurance renewal season has not been as bad as some had predicted, but there has been an uptick in mergers and acquisitions, the SRA has revealed.

A national law firm is considering the use of a ‘blind’ work allocation scheme to ensure the decisions it makes about how to distribute work are free from bias on the grounds of factors such as gender.