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Law firms: survival of the fittest?

02 December 2022 / Andy Cullwick
Issue: 8005 / Categories: Features , Profession , Legal services , Marketing , Technology
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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

Kennedys—Samson Spanier

Kennedys—Samson Spanier

Commercial disputes practice bolstered by partner hire

Bird & Bird—Emma Radcliffe

Bird & Bird—Emma Radcliffe

London competition team expands with collective actions specialist hire

Hill Dickinson—Chris Williams

Hill Dickinson—Chris Williams

Commercial dispute resolution team in London welcomes partner

NEWS
Judging is ‘more intellectually demanding than any other role in public life’—and far messier than outsiders imagine. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC reflects on decades spent wrestling with unclear legislation, fragile precedent and human fallibility
The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’
From fake authorities to rent reform, the civil courts have had a busy start to 2026. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold surveys a procedural landscape where guidance, discretion and discipline are all under strain
Fact-finding hearings remain a fault line in private family law. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse recent appeals exposing the dangers of rushed or fragmented findings
As the Winter Olympics open in Milan and Cortina, legal disputes are once again being resolved almost as fast as the athletes compete. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys examines the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS's) ad hoc divisions, which can decide cases within 24 hours
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