Legal Services Act

MPs have approved the appointment of Wanda Goldwag as the new chair of the Office for Legal Complaints – the body that oversees the Legal Ombudsman – as it also emerged that she has small shareholdings in two major alternative business structures.

Slater & Gordon announced another sliver of good news, with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission deciding to take no further action following an investigation into whether the firm’s accounts had been falsified. We also round up other ABS news, including a law firm created by a London corporate services business.

A second-year law student in London has launched an online ‘marketplace’ for McKenzie Friends that he hopes will be boosted by “hundreds” of fellow students taking up the opportunity to gain practical experience and offer services to the public on a paying basis.

A south Wales law firm has secured a £432,000 grant from the Welsh government to establish a global intellectual property anti-piracy business in Cardiff. The business – which will create 71 jobs by 2020 – is being spun off by CJCH Solicitors, which has expanded in recent years to include a standalone anti-piracy and compliance offering within its IP division.

There needs to be a “root and branch” review of the complaints process run by the Legal Ombudsman, with the speed with which complaints are resolved a particular concern, according to the prospective chair of the organisation’s governing body.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has warned of “information overload” as legal regulators struggle to come to terms with the demands of the Competition and Markets Authority for transparency on prices and complaints.

NAHL plc – the legal marketing business that owns National Accident Helpline – has reported a 15% increase in profits despite a small fall in turnover in 2016 that would have been significantly larger had the non-personal injury elements of its business not performed well.

Wanda Goldwag – a marketing specialist turned regulator with a connection to two high-profile alternative business structures – has been named as the Legal Services Board’s preferred candidate to chair the Office for Legal Complaints, the body that oversees the Legal Ombudsman.

Shares in Slater & Gordon (S&G) soared overnight – albeit from an historically low base – after it told investors that its new lenders “fully intend to implement a solvent restructure of the company”. Its share price rose 46% to 13c, having dipped to an all-time low of 7c a fortnight ago.

The expansion of consolidator Metamorph Law has continued after it took on the private client practice of a firm in Hampshire, its first venture in the south of England. Some 17 fee-earners and six support staff have set up new offices in Southampton, Lymington and Basingstoke.

The Legal Services Board is to have a new chair after incumbent Sir Michael Pitt took himself out of the running for a second three-year term, Legal Futures can reveal. His predecessor was appointed for a second term without the position being advertised, but this time there will be an open competition.

National Accident Helpline is set to invest in personal injury cases for the first time through alternative business structures, it revealed today. It said the government’s PI reforms would catch “less than” 30% of the enquiries it generated for firms but still meant major changes were needed.

A solicitor and online legal services pioneer who developed the first automated system for clients to send briefs to counsel, is launching a private client service this summer that “enables people to pick and choose the legal services they need and want to pay for”.

A high street law firm has obtained an alternative business structure licence as part of a strategy to build up its Refund You website-based consumer brand, which covers 14 areas of claims, from personal injury and financial mis-selling to timeshares and cavity wall insulation.

The value of the UK legal services market fell last year and there will only be modest growth over the next two years, with uncertainty over Brexit a contributing factor to researchers downgrading their forecasts, a new report has revealed. Large law firms have continued to see revenue growth, but medium and small firms have been hit.