Legal Services Act

The alternative business structure run for National Accident Helpline by Cardiff-based NewLaw Solicitors has added £3m in profitability to the law firm, it emerged yesterday.

Leading alternative legal services provider Axiom Law has announced a “significant” investment from top private equity firm Permira, having previously indicated that it would list instead.

MedCo should be ready to provide medical reports for unrepresented litigants under the new RTA portal by next April, its chairman said today after the government confirmed it would have that role.

An Essex full-service law firm has become an alternative business structure in order to further its ambitious expansion plans. Birkett Long is looking to establish a group structure.

It is time to ditch the increase in the small claims limit for EL and PL cases and focus instead on delivering the RTA portal on time, the Association of British Insurers has said.

Colin Poole, the former chief executive of Claims Direct and a struck-off solicitor, has won a High Court battle with shareholders over an alleged £21m debt. Peter Carroll, a former franchisee and director of Claims Direct, sued Mr Poole for… Read More

The Legal Services Board has said the Bar Standards Board now meets the standard it set for improving the quality of advocacy – unlike the Solicitors Regulation Authority and CILEx Regulation.

The Bar Standards Board has decided to stop funding Legal Choices, the consumer-facing website which until now has been collectively run and paid for by all the legal regulators.

Slater & Gordon is facing a multi-million pound counterclaim for allegedly using confidential information to reduce the amount it paid to buy Quindell’s professional services division.

The chief executive and chief financial officer of listed law firm DWF have been handed more than a million shares, subject to conditions, under the group’s equity incentive plan.

Lawyers are “rather arrogant”, “exploit young people” and resort to “deception” when charging for work, the head of an international employers group has said.

The idea of alternative business structures is starting to gain a foothold in America after working parties in two more states joined California in recommending non-lawyer ownership of law firms.

Consolidator Metamorph Law has made its second acquisition this year – and eighth in total in a little over three years – as several other mergers and acquisitions have also been unveiled.

A leading law firm specialising in payment protection insurance cases – one of which led to a landmark Supreme Court decision – has gone out of business.

The Legal Service Board might develop targets for improving the “legal capability” of consumers and review the frontline regulators’ work on public legal education, in its first push in the area.