Market monitor

A north west personal injury law firms plans to more than double in size, invest in a new £7m landmark office building as part of its employee retention policy, and open branch offices in the Middle East and Asia.

Alternative business structure Brilliant Law has scored a major affinity deal by teaming up with leading broker network Keychoice. Meanwhile, a law firm has received a £50,000 grant from the Welsh government to launch a legal e-commerce service.

A former Conservative MP and practising barrister has said he is certain the planned headline criminal legal aid fee cuts will go ahead unaltered, and will this week launch a ‘virtual chambers’ in anticipation.

A multi-discipinary financial services group has obtained an ABS licence to complete its broad-based professional advice offering by bringing legal services in-house. Meanwhile, a specialist fertility law practice is considering using its licence to introduce employee ownership,

HB Public Law, the merged legal teams of the London boroughs of Barnet and Harrow, is to seek an alternative business structure as a defence against outsourcing. Meanwhile, Kent Legal Services, the first council legal team to express ABS ambitions, has its plans on hold.

The economic recovery is set to benefit lawyers with new research finding that two-thirds of businesses expect their spending on legal services to increase over the next year. The research found that there will be quite a battle for this work, however.

Alternative business structure (ABS) Quindell Portfolio Plc has raised £200m through a share placement to fund “significant growth opportunities” amid other ABS news that has seen the first failure formally consigned to history.

Small and medium-sized law firms are looking to external investment to counter growing concerns about the impact of alternative business structures, new research has found, even though they are recovering well from the effects of recession.

Irwin Mitchell has made its first major move in the personal injury market since rival Slater & Gordon began its acquisition spree by taking over well-known Manchester firm MPH Solicitors, Legal Futures can reveal.

The legal outsourcing business that uses former City solicitors to provide temporary support services to law firms and in-house teams, has surpassed its original goal of having 500 lawyers on its books and grown 400% in the past year.

Alternative business structures (ABSs) that are keen to grow by acquisition have failed to make the strides they expected because of the problems of dealing with traditional law firms, it has been claimed.

An alternative business structure (ABS) licence is the next stage of the evolution of well-known media law firm Wiggin into a media business “of which law is a central cog but not the be all and end all”, its chief executive has explained.

The largest consumer law firm in the US is set to mount a bid to build a trusted national legal brand in the UK, potentially recruiting thousands of lawyers and with a global marketing budget of tens of millions of dollars.

The problems with the Co-operative Bank will not have an impact on the growth of Co-operative Legal Services, its director of policy said yesterday. The assertion came as the SRA published guidance highlighting the risks of ‘group contagion’ in the legal market.

One of the early pioneers in online legal services has relinquished her practising certificate in favour of working full-time for the web-based business she has built up over the past 12 years.