Market monitor

The recently ratified Paris Agreement on ending human-caused CO2 emissions offers “huge new opportunities” for law firms to assist with the transition to a zero-emissions economy, a report has claimed. It said firms should consider “getting in on the ground floor” with advising companies producing electric vehicles.

An AIM-listed provider of online B2B platforms – which white labels MoneySupermarket’s conveyancer search – has bought Conveyancing Alliance for an initial £7.2m as part of its strategy to become the country’s leading handler of conveyancing.

Some of the over £970m earmarked by the government for civil and criminal court reform should be used instead to stem the collapse in spending on legal aid, the Legal Action Group has suggested. It argued that the civil legal aid system was “in free fall” and the underspend in its budget over the last three years should be reinvested in an “innovation and early intervention” fund.

City solicitor David Harrel has become temporary executive chairman of AIM-listed legal business Fairpoint Group after its chief executive, Chris Moat, stepped down. Meanwhile, Slater & Gordon announced last week that it is talking to its lenders about refinancing and recapitalisation.

Artificial intelligence will likely be better at predicting the outcome of cases than the most experienced QCs, the Lord Chief Justice has warned. He also flagged changes that would see unbundling, outsourcing, and lesser-qualified staff assisted by technology taking over some of the work now done by lawyers.

The first private equity fund to invest in a high street law firm that has now put money into a ‘dispersed’ law firm has said it is “business as usual” despite Brexit and it would welcome further approaches from solicitors.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has launched an investigation into whether Slater & Gordon’s accounts have been falsified, it emerged last night. In particular, it is looking to determine whether financial records and accounts over a 22-month period were deliberately falsified or manipulated.

Hudgells Solicitors has opened up a new front in the battle over the government’s proposed PI reforms by saying that there is a far better and easier way to reform rehabilitation provision that does not involve “the unexpected and dangerous reforms hidden away at the back of its recent consultation”.

National law firm Setfords Solicitors has become the latest to take external investment after securing a £3.75m injection from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) to support its expansion plans. It has taken a minority stake, the second time it has done so with a law firm after putting £5m into McMillan Williams in early 2015.

There is fast-growing growing demand for free legal advice, with family law now the most requested area of law, according to the experience of LawWorks, the solicitors’ national pro bono charity. Its clincis responded to over 53,000 enquiries, a 24% increase on the previous year.

One of the country’s biggest independent firms of will-writers has followed the example set by law firms like Stephens Scown and Gateley and introduced employee ownership in a multi-million pound deal with its previous owners.

The chairman of the Conveyancing Association has called on the government to create a new portal to help fill the void left by the collapse of Veyo. Eddie Goldsmith said conveyancing consumers suffered from a “lack of knowledge” about the process and he would like to see a “government initiative” to create an information portal.

AIM-listed law firm Gateley is keen to explore acquisitions of further non-legal businesses, it said yesterday as it announced that the revenue in the six months to the end of October was up by almost 19% on the same period last year. It has also poured millions of shares into an incentive scheme for partners.

The founders of an alternative business structure which helps insolvency practitioners to process mis-selling claims against financial institutions have now launched a litigation fund. It is being bankrolled by Steve Clark, founder of investment management company Omni Partners.

A central London law firm has launched a fixed-fee family arbitration service in a bid to slash what it says is now an average £70,000 cost for divorcing people to reach a financial settlement. It comes as research shows those who have been through a divorce are less likely than the average to see lawyers as truthful.