Legal Services Act

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has given “qualified support” to plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to rewrite the separate business rule. The panel said the existing rule had “fallen into disrepute”.

McMillan Williams, which has 20 offices in London and the south of England, has become the first high street law firm to take external investment after securing a £5m private equity deal.

Over-50s company Saga has launched the first television advertising campaign for its legal services division, satirising the notion of lawyers being long-winded. There adverts envisage what life would be like if everyone spoke like a lawyer

Plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to relax the separate business rule could cause “irreparable damage” to the solicitor brand and “drive significant numbers of the profession” into the unregulated sector, the City of London Law Society has warned.

Business consultancy Assure Law has bought a specialist rehabilitation service as it expands the range of services it offers to law firms, following its acquisition of HighStreetLawyer.com and Lawyers2you.

Alternative business structure gunnercooke has taken its pioneering law firm model of only employing senior lawyers and used it to set up a consultancy business.

The Legal Services Board has given its blessing to the end of the “arbitrary” hours-based continuous professional development scheme for solicitors.

Slater & Gordon has today announced another two acquisitions that it said will make it the largest consumer law firm in Wales, as well as boosting its presence in the north-west and south-west of England, while talks over the acquisition of ‘operating assets’ of Quindell are continuing.

The debate over national versus local legal brands is set to begin again after Norfolk firm Clapham & Collinge announced it was “reclaiming its independence” by leaving the QualitySolicitors network after four years.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has moved closer towards its goal of regulating specialist probate lawyers who do not have to be conveyancers.

The number of current and former shareholders in AIM-listed alternative business structure Quindell registering with a Liverpool law firm for a potential group action has doubled to over 500.

The Ministry of Justice has announced huge increases in the regulation fees paid by claims management companies. The MoJ said that despite the drop in the number of firms, regulation could not be similarly scaled back.

Hugh James, the biggest firm in Wales, is extending its law firm network into the north of the country, it has emerged. It already has 120 firms signed up to Legal Network Wales.

There could be “carnage” among personal injury (PI) firms this year as the full impact of the Jackson reforms and portal fee cuts finally hits home, lawyers have predicted.

North-west firm Fletchers Solicitors has launched a medical negligence marketing network with three other niche practices in a bid to compete with the biggest players in the market.