Legal Services Act

A single regulator for all legal services providers and a single code of conduct is the way forward for the market, the Legal Services Consumer Panel argued today. It essentially recommended tearing up the Legal Services Act 2007 and starting again.

Slater & Gordon has now formally acquired personal injury firm Goodmans, giving the alternative business structure (ABS) a Liverpool base for the first time. Meanwhile, Co-operative Legal Services has launched its academy to offer career progression to all staff.

The ban on referral fees in personal injury is set to cost Admiral Insurance around £15m this year, it emerged yesterday. The insurer also said its two new ABS joint ventures are “not expected to make a material contribution to group profits in the foreseeable future”.

Thomas Solicitors – which was bought by failed law firm Challinors three years ago – has been acquired by East Midlands practice Hawley & Rodgers. The firm has continued to trade profitably despite its parent company’s financial difficulties.

Co-operative Legal Services has revealed losses of £3.4m for the first half of 2013, which its parent group said reflected “the start-up nature of the business”. But The Co-operative Group affirmed its intention to “continue with our plans to develop this growing business”.

A niche medical law firm has become an alternative business structure with the ambition of becoming a one-stop shop for healthcare providers. DR Solicitors was created under a brand designed to appeal to its primary care doctor, dentist and consultant clients.

Leading AIM-listed accident management company Helphire Group has linked with a start-up personal injury law firm within an alternative business structure, Legal Futures can reveal. Principia Law Limited is managed by solicitors and barristers.

Riverview Law, the fixed-priced commercial law business, is to double in size by creating up to 100 new posts over the next year, it announced today. The firm said the appointments are a result of “recent contract wins with a number of FTSE 100 businesses”.

The first corporate law firm in the world to go public is eyeing up opportunities in the UK, Legal Futures understands. Integrated Legal Holdings has until now been an aggregator of boutique corporate, tax and private client firms across Australia.

A specialist industrial disease law firm in the north-west is looking to convert to an alternative business structure to take advantage of a period of extraordinary growth. Fee income doubled to £7m and staff numbers quadrupled to 170 over the last year.

A Birmingham solicitor has become only the fourth lawyer to be found in contempt of court as a result of legal action taken by the Legal Ombudsman. He was also hit with a fine of £5,000 plus costs, after holding on to important files and failing to update his clients.

Jacoby & Meyers – which claims to be the largest full-service consumer law firm in America – is to create a joint venture alternative business structure as a vehicle to acquire UK law firms and become a “significant” player over here.

The Legal Services Board has backed improvements to the transparency of referral fees paid by licensed conveyancers following a review that found absolutely no justification for a ban.

The first alternative business structure to market itself as a firm offering both legal and accountancy services has been licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Direct Law & Finance Ltd is a firm of solicitors and accountants based in Brentford, west London.

Direct Line Group – which last month announced plans to launch its own legal business – made a final £6.1m in referral fees from solicitors this year before the ban was introduced on 1 April, its half-year results have shown.