Market monitor

The expansion of consolidator Metamorph Law has continued after it took on the private client practice of a firm in Hampshire, its first venture in the south of England. Some 17 fee-earners and six support staff have set up new offices in Southampton, Lymington and Basingstoke.

A solicitor and online legal services pioneer who developed the first automated system for clients to send briefs to counsel, is launching a private client service this summer that “enables people to pick and choose the legal services they need and want to pay for”.

The value of the UK legal services market fell last year and there will only be modest growth over the next two years, with uncertainty over Brexit a contributing factor to researchers downgrading their forecasts, a new report has revealed. Large law firms have continued to see revenue growth, but medium and small firms have been hit.

Alternative business structure and consolidator Metamorph Law has completed its second deal by taking over niche practice SLC Solicitors. SLC, based in Shrewsbury, is an award-winning 50-person firm that acts for commercial and residential landlords and managing agents.

Slater & Gordon’s shares are “nearly worthless”, an analyst has claimed on the back of its dire half-year results earlier this week. He has set a target price of just 1c. The firm’s share price on the Australian Stock Exchange fell to an all-time low of 7c this week, although it jumped 40% in trading today to 10c.

A charity that provides legal help to the victims of trafficking and slavery has created a law firm to service immigration and employment law private clients, with the aim of funding its charitable work. It launched north London firm Saltworks – a community interest company – this week.

Pioneering law firm NewLaw is set to create more alternative business structure (ABS) joint ventures this year, it has emerged. The firm – which was itself just the fourth ABS to be licensed – already has seven joint ventures, with partners including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and insurer Ageas.

Slater & Gordon will not be able to pay off the bank debt that falls due next year and will need the continuing support of its lenders “to continue as a going concern”, it admitted today while unveiling more disastrous financial results that showed a 38% fall in income in the UK.

Stowe Family Law – which claims to be the largest specialist family law firm in the country – has become the latest legal practice to accept private equity investment after signing a deal with mid-market backer Livingbridge. The plan is to build a “larger national footprint”, opening up to 30 additional offices over the next five years – it currently has 10.

Ulster University launched the UK’s first legal innovation centre last night, bringing together its law school, school of computing and intelligent systems, and global law firms Allen & Overy and Baker McKenzie. It aims to operate at the intersection between legal process innovation, technology and access to justice.

The total number of law firms registering conveyancing transactions rose 4% in 2016 to 5,572, halting five years going the other way, and they are busier than before the financial crash, new figures have shown. However, the overall trend of active conveyancing firms has been steeply downwards in the last decade.

A solicitor and barrister who act for an anti-asbestos campaign are in a legal battle over what confidential and privileged information was passed on by a supposed TV documentary maker who was actually placed in the campaign to spy on its activities.

The recovery of Slater & Gordon’s UK business is going “slower than expected”, with trading results being adjusted downwards as a result, and the negative mood about the firm is now hitting its home business in Australia, it has admitted in a trading update that appeared to be preparing investors for disappointing half-year results later this month.

Justice minister Sir Oliver Heald has struck a bullish tone of defiance in response to concerns that Germany and the Netherlands are creating English-language commercial courts to compete with the UK for disputes post Brexit.

Baker McKenzie, the world’s second biggest law firm, has announced plans to introduce due diligence software based on machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, as part of an innovation drive that looks to import ‘design thinking’ into how it delivers legal services.