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02 December 2022 / Andy Cullwick
Issue: 8005 / Categories: Features , Profession , Legal services , Marketing , Technology
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Law firms: survival of the fittest?

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Andy Cullwick considers how law firms are facing up to an uncertain future, & how they can best adapt to it
  • The latest White Paper from First4Lawyers looks at the big issues affecting law firms and what they are doing to prepare themselves for the difficult year ahead.
  • Whiplash reforms continue to bite, with a quarter of firms exiting the small claims road traffic accident market and more set to follow.
  • Despite the popularity of review sites, just over a third of firms read or respond to what is said about them online.

It’s at this time of year that we start seeing predicted legal trends for the next 12 months. Sadly, the outlook for 2023 is not so much of a prediction as a foregone conclusion. Rising inflation and the impending recession make it likely that the months ahead will be difficult for many, but particularly for law firms in the personal injury (PI) sector, the number of which has dropped significantly

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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