Market monitor

A virtual set of tax and revenue-specialist barristers has multiplied from its two founders to 11 members since it launched last summer, with several based overseas as it looks to build a global practice.

Legal marketing business First4Lawyers is to create an alternative business structure to handle road traffic accident claims after the whiplash reforms are introduced in May.

The legal profession claimed victory last night in the fight against extended operating hours in the criminal courts – although the Ministry of Justice has not yet confirmed it.

The vast majority of law firms have made a profit since March, showing that predictions the pandemic would wreak havoc in the profession have not come to pass, according to new research.

Drinks giant Coca-Cola is to start penalising its panel law firms with reduced fees if they fail to deliver on diversity commitments, in a shift starting in the US and then expanding globally.

The boss of listed law firm Knights, David Beech, has cashed in £61m worth of shares, the company announced today, just under half of his stake in the business.

A joint venture alternative business structure specialising in dispute resolution for SMEs is launching a new service for law firms which it compares to “a concession in a department store”.

Senior in-house lawyers at large private equity firms are responsible for the cost of instructing law firms but lack the power to control it, a study has found.

Six in 10 barristers, rising to 80% of those doing publicly funded work, have taken on personal debt or used savings to get through Covid-19, while a quarter have taken on additional paid work.

The boss of listed law firm Knights has outlined his ambitions to continue expanding the business across England, with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also in his sights.

A law firm that works with non-legal businesses to offer SME clients a multi-disciplinary service is to convert to an alternative business structure so that they can share fees.

Leading commercial firm DAC Beachcroft has launched an “in-house chambers” which plans to expand rapidly and become “the biggest of its kind” by end of the year.

The year has kicked off with a spate of law firm expansion activity, whether through mergers, huge team hires, file acquisitions or one Essex law firm maintaining EU links by opening in Malta.

Talks about a reverse takeover of NAHL Group – the owner of National Accident Helpline – by fellow AIM-listed company Frenkel Topping have been called off.

Rising income from listed law firm Gateley’s non-legal businesses almost made up for the loss in turnover from its core legal work during last year’s first lockdown, its interim results have shown.