Market monitor

Insurance companies will buy law firms in response to the ban on referral fees, but this will not help to lower the industry’s claims bill, an analyst has predicted. An investor report on Admiral Group, produced by Investec, said the referral fee ban will cost the company £7 of income per vehicle.

A leading merger broker has entered the legal market after joining forces with specialist advisory firm Invest in Law, Legal Futures can reveal. Langcliffe Merger Connect, which spun out of accountancy firm RSM Tenon last year, said it wanted to capitalise on the increasing M&A activity in the sector.

An East Midlands firm of independent financial advisers is building a law firm from scratch to provide a one-stop shop for clients after obtaining an alternative business structure licence. Bobby Dhanjal Wealth Management has launched Bobby Dhanjal Legal Services Limited.

LegalForce, a US concept for delivering legal services, has today simultaneously launched in the US and UK, with plans to open a new type of legal retail store in the heart of London’s technology industry, Legal Futures can reveal.

The legal services market should return to something near pre-recession levels of growth in 2016, the Law Society has predicted. An economic study it published yesterday said the profession’s ‘real’ turnover fell marginally in 2012 and would then slowly recover for the next three years.

Vamco has become the first accident management company to buy a law firm after being awarded an alternative business structure (ABS) licence. The Surrey-based business has acquired Kingsley Law, previously part of the Nesbit Law Group.

National law firm Simpson Millar is eyeing up the acquisition of non-legal businesses as part of its expansion plans now it has secured an alternative business structure (ABS) licence, it has revealed.

Virtual law firm Excello Law has become the second legal practice to join forces with ex-Dragon’s Den star James Caan as part of its bid to become the leading supplier of legal services to the SME sector. The firm has joined Knights Solicitors in Mr Caan’s Hamilton Bradshaw portfolio of companies.

National law firm Simpson Millar has joined forces with legal expenses insurer DAS to bring insurance-backed pre-paid legal plans to the UK, offering cover for a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work – including conveyancing and personal injury.

The latest personal injury law firm to become an alternative business structure is eyeing up the opportunity of offering insurers a specialist white-label service, it has emerged. Without the status, “you can’t get off the starting blocks,” said its chief executive.

Mid-sized law firms are looking more likely to secure mergers in the coming months than their smaller brethren, new research has indicated. The survey of 92 firms found that most of the firms that had received or made multiple approaches had at least 10 partners.

Evident Legal, the law firm franchise turned online legal service Simplify the Law, has secured a cash injection from a venture capitalist to help it grow. The investor, ARC InterCapital, was set up by former Goldman Sachs vice-president Andrew Dixon.

A law firm that has innovative web-based personal injury brands, including those directed at the building trades and taxi drivers, is to investigate external investment after winning its alternative business structure (ABS) license.

Admiral Insurance and national law firm Lyons Davidson – which received its alternative business structure licence in November – are having talks about linking up, but it will not involve the law firm being acquired, Legal Futures can report.

A new marketing collective that is targeting consumer and commercial legal work – Simply Lawyers – is preparing for launch, Legal Futures can reveal. Meanwhile, Accidents Direct hopes to become the country’s leading claims management company by bringing more firms onto its panel.