Legal Services Act

Some 192 staff at listed law firm Knights have subscribed for options over the firm’s shares at a discounted price. Listed legal businesses Redde and Anexo have released positive trading updates.

The Civil Liability Bill received Royal Assent yesterday, meaning the battle over the reforms now moves to the regulations that will fill in much of the detail, including the compensation tariff.

Law firms need to build “enlightened” partnerships so as to disrupt the legal market themselves, or face others moving in to do it, the chief customer officer at Slater & Gordon has argued.

There is “increasing competition” for clients and lawyers between the large US and UK firms operating in London, as research shows strong continued growth among the largest City firms.

Clifford Chance is to initiate discussions amongst the large London firms “to ratchet up what we can all do to counter corruption”, the firm’s general counsel has revealed.

The Legal Ombudsman is to focus on improving the quality of its decision making as its caseload falls from 8,000 to a predicted 7,400 in 2019-20. But delays continue to dog the service.

A partner who set up both a commercial law firm and a HR software company has sold his stake in the legal practice to take charge of the software business.

Alternative business structures operating in conveyancing are significantly more positive about their future than traditional practices as the number of firms in the field continues to fall.

An entrepreneur who successfully lobbied for changes in how the Foreign Office handles missing people has launched a new campaign to support litigants in person.

A litigation-focused legal and accountancy alternative business structure, which opened for business this month, is set to benefit from an “explosion” in contested probate cases.

Law firms of the future need to offer clients a “holistic service” beyond just legal advice, according to the boss of a law firm bought by a multi-disciplinary European network last week.

The £30m that the Law Society levies on solicitors for its representative work is to be put under the microscope by the Legal Services Board next year.

The founder of pioneering alternative business structure rradar has described innovation in the legal sector as “sweat, risk and stubbornness”. It is now lining up acquisitions to aid growth.

Manchester law firm Glaisyers is set to become a multi-disciplinary practice for SME clients after being acquired by a consortium led by an international network of professional service firms.

The Law Society is undergoing its latest internal reorganisation, with the aim of creating “the Future Law Society” by 2022. It also wants solicitors to focus on work that cannot be automated.