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Health assessment

18 March 2011 / Josh Bottomley
Issue: 7457 / Categories: Opinion
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The last few years have seen significant changes to the legal market. Increased competition from high street names such as the Co-operative and Halifax...

The last few years have seen significant changes to the legal market. Increased competition from high street names such as the Co-operative and Halifax, as well as the economic consequences of the credit crunch have led clients to look hard at the cost of pursuing legal remedies. In addition the Legal Services Act, changes to legal aid, and the government’s review of the cost of civil litigation, will all equate to the equivalent of the City’s “Big Bang” in the 1980s in the next 12–18 months.

High street lawyers working for small businesses and individuals have faced the greatest challenge. They are the firms that offer services on conveyancing, wills and probate, personal injury, family law, and standard employment and commercial contracts. They have tight margins and tend to be reliant on one or two areas of business. These firms face a stark choice: evolve or continue down a path that could lead

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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