Practice Management

Mergers of law firms are “not a time for consensus because decisions must be made” and the fact partners may have to cede control “must be debated and not hidden”, a report has warned.

The spring renewal season saw law firms pay a lot more for their PII, with the surge in conveyancing work a concern and contentious probate an increasing problem.

Nearly half of lawyers believe that working remotely during the pandemic has damaged the cohesiveness of their firms, a global study has found.

A 6% increase in profits per partner recorded by small and medium-sized law firms in the first six months of the pandemic was a “startling outcome”, according to a report.

The boss of a Cheshire law firm has said the “constant theme” of recent appraisals is that “people want to come back to the office”, with another saying his firm has reversed plans to downsize its office.

Remote communication during Covid has sped up law firm mergers, rather than acting as a hindrance, according to the chairman of the Association of Law Firm Merger Advisers.

The High Court has rejected a challenge to a judgment in default obtained by two law firms whose retainers were terminated by a Swiss company, which then failed to pay them £500,000 in fees combined.

A 40-strong law firm based in Oxford has become the latest to embrace employee ownership, with the firm’s managing director saying she was inspired to act by how staff rallied during Covid.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is set to become the first regulator to introduce a ‘polluter pays’ element to how it recovers the cost of the Legal Ombudsman from those it regulates.

Two-thirds of law firms say the increase in digital learning as a result of the pandemic will continue, but a quarter of firms told a survey their lawyers have “no time” for training during the working day.