Market monitor

An acquisitive North-West law firm and a private equity investor have joined forces to offer a service for insolvency practitioners looking to sell distressed consumer practices.

The proportion of consumers going on review websites to help find their lawyer has hit double figures, while a majority would use a firm anywhere in the country, research has found.

Shares in DWF jumped 12% to their pre-Covid level after the only law firm listed on the main London Stock Exchange revealed a strong performance in the last financial year.

NAHL plc is set to sell its residential conveyancing business as it looks to focus on growing its personal injury law firm in the wake of a difficult Covid-affected year for the business.

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.

An American company that sought to bring subscription-based legal services to the mainstream consumer market in the UK has shuttered its operation after less than two years.

More than eight in every 10 reviews on Trustpilot award law firms five stars, making them increasingly a “hygiene factor” rather than a differentiator, new research has indicated.

Private equity-backed Winn Solicitors is ramping up its operation to handle mis-sold business energy contracts as it bids to diversify from its core personal injury business.

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.

An app for SMEs to diagnose and get guidance on their legal problems has now launched a consumer version that helps users find and book a lawyer, and is integrated with government services.

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.

A man has been jailed for orchestrating fraudulent motor insurance claims and cloning a claims management company to pass them to a firm of solicitors in return for referral fees.

A quarter of small and mid-sized law firms have either downsized their office space this year or expect to shortly, according to Law Society research which also found growing confidence in the market.

James Knight, chief executive of Keystone Law, has become the latest boss of a listed law firm to cash in a substantial number of their shares, generating £9.45m.

Small law firms increasingly see online legal services providers as their biggest commercial threat, and are becoming more worried about DIY providers too, new research has shown.