Legal Services Act

MPs have launched an inquiry into the implications of Brexit for the justice system, including what it means for lawyers themselves. The justice select committee said it wanted to present the government with “recommendations concerning the questions which it will need to address in the eventual Brexit negotiation process”.

Fast-growing alternative business structure Knights Professional Services has moved on from private equity funding and giving away an ownership stake, and turned to a major European lender to finance to next stage of its expansion. We revealed last month that James Caan has sold his stake in the firm.

The first shareholder class action over the huge fall in Slater & Gordon’s share price has been filed, with a second to follow shortly. Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn said that “in light of the amount of lost shareholder value, the compensation sought is expected to be of very significant magnitude”.

A West country agricultural law specialist firm has launched an alternative business structure with financial backing from a firm of accountants, with the aim of growing the practice five-fold. Rubric Law took external investment from Moore Scarrott, which is one of the largest veterinary accountancy practices in the UK.

There has been the usual spate of law firm mergers and acquisitions up and down the country coinciding with the end of the traditional indemnity year, including the continuing growth of national crime firm Tuckers and a Scottish firm entering England for the first time.

A solicitor-led investment consultancy has sought an alternative business structure licence as part of its plan to expand and exploit what it called a “gap in the market” for lawyers in advisory services. It has two solicitor partners and until now offered unreserved legal activities.

Outer Temple Chambers has taken the unprecedented step of setting up what is effectively a separate international law firm, employing a solicitor. Outer Temple International, a Bar Standards Board-regulated entity, has now secured insurance and is set to go live this week.

One Legal – the externally funded alternative business structure that saved leading crime firm Kaim Todner earlier this year – has made its second acquisition as it looks to create a new model for criminal law, Legal Futures can reveal. One Legal is headed by Trevor Howarth, the founder of now-defunct Stobart Barristers.

AIM-listed litigation finance company Burford Capital has finally activated its alternative business structure after hiring a solicitor to act in judgment enforcement matters. Burford Law was licensed in January 2016 but will now start operating after the company hired litigator Tom Evans as its head.

AIM-listed law firm Gateley has launched an employee share scheme that will enable all members of staff to secure up to £500 of shares every month at a discount of 20% on their price. Some 44% of the firm’s 650 staff have signed up for shares since the scheme launched at the end of August.

Sheffield law firm SSB Law has left the QualitySolicitors network to focus on its own brand instead at a time when it says “the traditional law firm approach has a limited future”. It said it joined because “there was a basis for a national brand” but over time there was “an increasing conflict” with its own brand.

PwC – the first of the ‘big four’ accountants to gain an alternative business structure (ABS) licence – has become a true multi-disciplinary practice by merging its connected law firm into the wider business, in a move that has been welcomed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Leading investor James Caan has sold his stake in Staffordshire-based law firm Knights Professional Services, Legal Futures can reveal. Mr Caan invested in Knights in 2012, since when the firm has grown its turnover from £8m to £40m and added complementary services to its core legal offering.

The time taken by the Legal Ombudsman to resolve cases increased over the summer, new figures have shown. The proportion of cases resolved within 90 days fell from 50% in June this year to 47% in July – against a target of 60%. This was caused by a “bulge” in cases being assessed.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel and the Legal Ombudsman are the latest organisations to come out against the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s proposal that practising solicitors be allowed to handle unreserved legal work for the public from unregulated firms.