Legal Services Act

Leading conveyancing firm O’Neill Patient – which was last year bought by a private equity firm – has acquired Cavendish Legal Group, the first of what it says will be “a number of acquisitions”.

Yorkshire law firm Heptonstalls has joined forces with Call Brian, an automated personal injury claims system, to offer other firms a way to continue making money after the whiplash reforms come into effect.

The First-tier Tribunal has upheld the decision of the Legal Services Board not to release an email exchange with the Solicitors Regulation Authority over the Leigh Day case.

A private equity company that last year bought two major volume conveyancing firms has now taken a minority stake in a solicitor-owned legal technology company for £1.5m.

A revised accounts code that expressly allows firms of licensed conveyancers to use third-party managed accounts has been approved by the Legal Services Board.

A firm of financial advisers has launched an alternative business structure to provide its clients with legal services which it claims are faster and “at least a third cheaper”.

Unregulated providers are leading the way with developing consumer-facing legal technology, showing that the way solicitors are regulated is “not an obstacle to innovation”.

Alternative business structures are reshaping the boundaries of the law by emphasising the benefit of integrated professional services, rather than pure legal knowledge, a leading academic has argued.

Employment and commercial work are seeing the biggest increases in demand from clients, research has found. However, lockdown has had a “devastating impact” on other practice areas.

The Law Society and Bar Council have urged the government to act on a report from MPs that that would help lawyers who have fallen through the gaps of the coronavirus support schemes.

Employment lawyers could be about to see a surge in enquiries, with data from Citizens Advice showing that people are becoming increasingly concerned about redundancy.

Law firm mergers are still being planned, despite the coronavirus pandemic, although they may take longer to get over the line, experts have predicted.

Small law firms have been hit hardest by the lockdown, a survey of the impact of Covid-19 on the profession has found but overall firms have “largely seen only a minor impact on business levels”.

An advocacy services firm which attended over 6,000 hearings last year has become an alternative business structure so it can add qualified advocates to its team of solicitors’ agents.

New instructions have been running at about 70% of the pre-lockdown level over the past two and a half months, but there are definite signs of a revival, with conveyancing roaring back, data shows.