News

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Legal apprenticeships funded by the government are on course to start next September, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers have confirmed.

Two listed companies that own significant alternative business structures – Redde and Fairpoint – both announced strong results to the stock exchange today. Turnover at accident management group Redde, which owns NewLaw Solicitors, was up 26% to £249m, while gross profit nearly doubled to £23m.

International law firm DAC Beachcroft’s Claims Solutions Group, which employs 900 people across the UK, became an alternative business structure yesterday. Craig Dickson, chief executive of the group, said the move would help it respond to the “fluid” legal claims market.

Male solicitors must be alert to their “unconscious assumptions” and ensure female barristers get an “equal crack of the whip in winning work on their merits”, the vice-chair of the Bar Standards Board has said. Patricia Robertson QC also said it was essential for women barristers to “find the right life partner”.

National chambers Clerksroom has announced a partnership with a not-for-profit business that describes itself as the biggest multi-sector ombudsman in the UK, to provide commercial dispute resolution services for up to 10,000 businesses. It could be the biggest mediation opportunity to arise in the UK to date.

Riverview Law has completed a “multi-million” pound deal to buy an American knowledge automation business as part of its plans to develop the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal market. It said the deal to buy CliXLEX was a “major step” towards the creation of ‘virtual assistants’

The Legal Ombudsman has apologised to solicitors for any inconvenience caused after it abandoned plans to become a certified alternative dispute resolution body without a full consultation. LeO said it would “decide how to proceed” in December.

Slater & Gordon has “a commanding market share lead” in the UK, its managing director claimed today as the Australian-listed law firm announced a 27% in annual revenues to £243m. Its ever-expanding UK operation contributed £121m of this.

A firm of accountants based in rural East Anglia has become an alternative business structure regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Churchgate Accountants said the move was in response to demand from clients, including farmers.

Jonathan Smithers, president of the Law Society, has described chief executive Catherine Dixon as “fully committed” to ensuring that medical negligence lawyers are “fairly rewarded” under any new fee regime imposed by the government, despite her previous role on the other side of the fence.