Market monitor

A groundbreaking online probate service has gone live, allowing people to handle straightforward cases themselves for £349. In the coming months it will also be sold to law firms as a white-label product. Meanwhile, the Law Society has begun investigating online legal services.

Six criminal law barristers have set up a chambers structured as a partnership and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Artesian Law is already looking to expand due to the number of instructions it has received.

Innovative legal business Axiom has become the latest to open an operation in Belfast, with £1.6m of government support. Unlike at other law firm operations in the city, the 100 lawyers and paralegals will be the primary client-facing fee-earners for global companies.

There is in excess of £1bn of private equity money available for investment in the legal market, while at least one UK law firm will proceed to a public listing this year, one of the profession’s leading bankers, James Tsolakis of RBS, has predicted.

QualitySolicitors will this month launch the largest advertising campaign in the history of the legal profession ahead of a blitz that will see 8,000 adverts hit TV screens throughout May. The first of the new-look ads will be shown on Sunday 25 March, during the final of Dancing on Ice.

Silverbeck Rymer may not be the last law firm acquired by Quindell Portfolio as it targets rapid growth to achieve a 15-20% share of the personal injury market over the next year, the AIM-listed company’s chief executive has told Legal Futures.

Admiral Insurance is “considering its options” over becoming an alternative business structure, chief executive Henry Engelhardt confirmed yesterday. He indicated that the company is waiting to see the final shape of the ban on referral fees.

An innovative legal outsourcing business that uses former City solicitors to provide law firms and in-house departments with temporary support is set for a massive expansion, aiming to grow from 60 to 500 by the end of the year.

Leading defendant insurance law firm Keoghs has confirmed that it is exploring opportunities to raise external funding. Reports in the north-west suggest that private equity firm Bowmark Capital is in exclusive talks to take a stake in the business.

The first facility giving library users access to a free consultation with a lawyer via video-link launched in the heart of London yesterday, with both solicitors and barristers now supporting the concept.

Lawyers2you is to become the first legal network to take on London when it launches its first franchise in the east of the city shortly, Legal Futures can reveal. The news comes after it faced criticism in the press for an A-board it used in central Birmingham.

Merger and acquisition activity is becoming a far greater strategic priority among the largest law firms, new research has shown – although most still remain wary of alternative business structures. It also highlighted how top firms are being forced to offer fixed fees.

Large law firms should consider structures that allow them “to trade in the substantial value of their businesses”, a corporate advisory firm claimed yesterday. Europa Partners said that six of the top ten by value large enough to be included in the FTSE 100 if they were listed.

National criminal law firm Tuckers could look to form consortia with other practices to bid for legal aid contracts, it has revealed. The firm has recently begun offering other criminal law firms access to its back-office services in a bid to generate income, and save costs for smaller practices.

A financial services group is to submit its stage two ABS licence application this week as it bids to add a legal practice to its portfolio, Legal Futures can reveal. It comes as the SRA reveals how many would-be ABSs have filed stage two applications.