Market monitor

The end of the first alternative business structure failure moved a step closer today after In-Deed Online plc announced plans for a reverse takeover by an e-learning company. AIM-listed In-Deed was the first listed company to buy a law firm.

Alternative business structure MTA Solicitors is bidding to grow its national network by acquiring firms and attaching them to its centralised support and resource infrastructure. It comes as another acquisitive practice has rewarded staff with a shorter working week.

If criminal legal aid solicitors were given more time to put their house in order before the government slashed fees, there would be a greater chance of consolidation in the market to mitigate the cuts, the Ministry of Justice has been told.

Harris Cartier – a 26-lawyer niche litigation and corporate practice with offices in London and Slough – has become the first firm to be placed into administration following the failure to arrange professional indemnity insurance for 1 October.

A comparison website claiming to be the first UK service dedicated to matching businesses to lawyers has been launched, and includes customer ratings at the end of every engagement.

The legal market of 2020 will have 25% fewer lawyers and 20% fewer firms, with new business models and disruptive legal technologies sitting at the core of the provision of legal services, leading firm Addleshaw Goddard has predicted.

Alternative business structure NewLaw Solicitors is to grow by 25% after receiving finance from the Welsh government to help it expand. The firm is to recruit 86 people in its Cardiff headquarters.

Leading insurer Markel is to enter the legal market after today announcing a deal to buy the owner of alternative business structure Lewis Hymanson Small. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has given approval for the change of control.

The next stage of QualitySolicitors’ latest advertising campaign to persuade the public to love lawyers went live yesterday with a series of television adverts. Meanwhile, Slater & Gordon launched the latest part of its TV campaign with an advert focused on employment law.

The speed and scale of change in the legal market – despite innovations such as alternative business structures – do not match its size, the founder of pioneering business Axiom has claimed. Mark Harris suggested that this was in part down to lawyers’ reluctance to fail.

Leading claims management company First4lawyers yesterday launched a £10m year-long marketing campaign with a new television commercial featuring tennis player-turned-commentator Andrew Castle.

An eviction business that was originally set up as an alternative to solicitors has now become an alternative business structure (ABS) regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to help it stand out against unregulated competition.

A website that connects individuals and small businesses with a panel of solicitors who review contracts for a fixed fee, has set up in the US and Canada and plans to expand into the rest of Europe.

A personal injury practice with offices in the north-west and midlands has become an alternative business structure (ABS) so that a top businessman can take a stake in the firm.

A law firm spin-off which helps insolvency practitioners to process financial mis-selling claims against financial institutions, has been granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence.