Legal Services Act

The first firm of accountants to become an alternative business structure (ABS) licensed by its own regulator is planning to extend the range of legal services it offers, its senior partner has revealed.

Highly acquisitive personal injury firm Neil Hudgell Solicitors has doubled in size with the purchase of rival Hull firm Rapid Solicitors, creating a £20m practice. The combined firm will have over 220 staff and handle more than 10,000 claims.

The Legal Services Board has backed a new “flexible” approach by the Solicitors Regulation Authority aimed at making it easier for multi-disciplinary partnerships to become licensed as alternative business structures.

Leading ‘dispersed’ law firm Keystone Law has taken £3.15m investment from boutique private equity firm Root Capital in return for a 35% stake in the business. It will in part be used to buy out founding partner Charles Stringer.

The director of regulation at water company Affinity Water has been named the new chief executive of the Legal Services Board (LSB). Richard Moriarty will join the LSB in early 2015 with a background spanning a number of regulated sectors across the economy.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has authorised the first non-ABS accountancy firm to carry out probate work.

Trethowans, based in Southampton and Salisbury, has become the third regional firm and former hub in Pannone’s Connect2Law network to launch its own brand – United Law. It has 98 members in Dorset, Hampshire and part of Wiltshire.

Direct access service myBarrister has joined forces with litigation funder Augusta Ventures to help clients finance their cases – and offer barristers the prospect of upfront payment of some of their fees.

The changes in the legal market, particularly the ability of ordinary people to access justice, means law firms have to reinvent themselves, one of the country’s best-known solicitors claimed yesterday.

No law firm in the world has a client base like Slater & Gordon’s, its managing director claimed today. Andrew Grech also said that aside from the “dislocation” of a few senior staff at Pannone, integration of its various acquisitions has gone well.

Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has announced that it is switching its volume conveyancing partner, from Blacks in Leeds to TCS in Cheshire. It said working with TCS “will allow us to broaden our offering for customers and members, and will increase the capacity of our service”.

The legal regulators should have full independence, and ‘approved regulator’ role of the Bar Council, Law Society and other professional bodies should be abolished, the chair of the Bar Standards Board argued yesterday.

Alternative business structure Quindell plc has nearly 45,000 noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) cases on the go as it bids to hit the £1bn turnover mark, its latest trading update has revealed.

Kent Legal Services – the legal division of Kent County Council – has formally launched its bid for outside investment by issuing a tender for a commercial partner with which it will form a joint venture/alternative business structure.

Admiral Law – the alternative business structure (ABS) joint venture between Admiral Insurance and national law firm Lyons Davidson – made a gross profit of nearly £3m in its first seven months of trading, the company’s first accounts have revealed.