Legal Services Act

The Legal Services Board has joined solicitors in questioning government plans to introduce additional regulation of criminal advocacy. The Bar Council supported the proposals by the Ministry of Justice.

The government said today that it will “further reduce barriers” to make it easier for alternative business structures, such as supermarkets and estate agents, to offer legal services like conveyancing, probate and litigation. It will also seek the complete separation of regulators from representative bodies.

Slater & Gordon’s share price has bounced back after last week’s precipitous plunge following the Autumn Statement, with the law firm predicting that the reforms outlined by Chancellor George Osborne would not have a “material impact” on its core business.

The Bar Standards Board has reported that its annual income is expected to plummet by almost a quarter (24%) by the end of this financial year, with the smaller than expected number of firms or ‘entities’ that had sought its oversight contributing significantly to the shortfall.

Slater & Gordon’s share price continued to tumble in the wake of the Autumn Statement, with another 27% wiped off their value overnight, while National Accident Helpline has also taken a big hit on AIM. The two listed UK alternative business structures with exposure to personal injury have fallen as well – albeit less precipitously.

The abolition of general damages for all low-value whiplash claims will not come into force until April 2017, it has emerged – giving the personal injury market more time to adapt than expected. Law firms have also been urged to start planning for the changes, with some likely to close as a result.

Slater & Gordon’s share price tumbled by more than 50% overnight as investors reeled at the potential impact of the personal injury reforms unveiled yesterday in the Autumn Statement. It fell below A$1 for the first time since the firm listed in 2007.

The average price of a standard will from a law firm has fallen from £124 to £118 over the last year, new research has indicated. The report, by IRN Research, warned that a highly competitive market had become even tougher with the arrival of accountants and chartered legal executives.

Insurance specialist Horwich Farrelly has recruited the entire Greenwoods large and complex personal injury team, among a total of seven partners and 36 other staff, from Parabis. Meanwhile Fletchers has revealed its ambition to be a top 100 firm by 2018.

The Royal College of Nursing is planning to follow the British Medical Association in setting up a law firm, it has emerged. Like the BMA, the RCN – which represents over 400,000 nurses – has chosen Cardiff-based NewLaw as its partner.

Any person thinking about taking their case to court should be able to see a lawyer without cost at least once, according to an opinion poll conducted as part of work on the public perception of justice. The research by Citizens Advice said that the increased restrictions on legal aid were discouraging people from accessing the courts at all.

Private equity-backed alternative business structure Parabis Group has today been broken up into seven pre-pack sales after entering administration, as first predicted this morning by Legal Futures. Meanwhile, another private equity-backed firm, Knights, is set to break into the top 100 with the acquisition of Darbys.

Slater & Gordon has changed the strategy of the personal injury business it bought from Quindell and is now generally not accepting low-value road traffic accident accident claims that are more than a year old because they are harder to win, it has emerged.

The chief executive of what he terms a “bog standard law firm” has described how it secured private equity investment as a “roll-out specialist”. Colum Smith of McMillan Williams revealed that his firm received eight private equity funding offers.

Lord Chancellor Michael Gove indicated yesterday that he would support legislative changes to make it easier to approve and regulate alternative business structures while the scope of the wider review of the Legal Services Act 2007 is worked out.