30 top end law firms in serious financial difficulty

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T.C. · #1 Post by **T.C.** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 2:35 pm

Reported in the Law Gazette today that 30 of the top 200 law firms are in difficulty with a further 160 at risk with 8 in immanent danger.

Some you may say good riddance to bad rubbish which is fair enough, but on the other side of the coin, think of those people who for example have complex ongoing personal injury cases after a bad bike crash and they have to now have their case management passed to another firm who may not have the same interest or expertise.

Anyway, full story here

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/30-hig ... difficulty

Falcopops · #2 Post by **Falcopops** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:35 pm

Hope this doesn't directly affect you TC, but reading between the lines of your post I have the feeling it might?

T.C. · #3 Post by **T.C.** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:48 am

Falcopops wrote:Hope this doesn't directly affect you TC, but reading between the lines of your post I have the feeling it might?

Actually, we are bucking the trend.

When I started with my firm we had 4 offices, and within the next few weeks we will be opening our 17th, 18th and 19th offices. It is forecast that by this time next year we could be up to 24 or 25 offices as we steadily move further north.

Much of the problem with those in trouble is that many firms believe that because they are what they are the business will simply come in off the street, but with the introduction of ABS (Alternative business solutions) allowing non law firms to practice law (Tesco's for example), firms have to be more pro-active, hence the reason we go to a lot of events, I spend a lot of evenings being a guest speaker at various clubs and organisations and, and...............

But I know the partners and management (of which I am part) are not complacent, so you never know what is just around the corner.

Falcopops · #4 Post by **Falcopops** » Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:07 am

Good to hear and long may it continue for you.

I find it refreshing to read your stories of fighting the good fight o others behalf. I've been on the shitty end a number of times in the past and the only way to get a good and timely result was to do all the work myself and keep pushing the apathetic legal reps that were supposed to be on my side, but more often than not were merely out to do the minimum to get a case closed.

Dusty · #5 Post by **Dusty** » Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:44 pm

It's not good news to hear of any legitimate business hitting the rocks regardless of the sector, but with both of my children studying law, that's particularly disconcerting for us. However, I'm glad to hear that your own employer is thriving, TC. Hopefully, the best firms will indeed remain successful in this difficult economic climate.

lazarus · #6 Post by **lazarus** » Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:10 pm

I doubt very much whether the firms in troublke are "top end" ie firms like Linklaters. More likely they are the big ambulance chasers, and the firms dealing with things like PPI claims. If thats the case then I wont have any regrets. Might do something about our claim-for-everything culture

T.C. · #7 Post by **T.C.** » Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:57 pm

lazarus wrote:I doubt very much whether the firms in troublke are "top end" ie firms like Linklaters. More likely they are the big ambulance chasers, and the firms dealing with things like PPI claims. If thats the case then I wont have any regrets. Might do something about our claim-for-everything culture

No, they are top end firms as in non ambulance chasers unfortunately.

Many of the ambulance chasers are being brought out by claims management firms so thereby (they think) legitimising their ambulance chasing, hence the reasons why these crappy firms who are under investigation are now going to be published online.

lazarus · #8 Post by **lazarus** » Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:03 pm

Something wrong here TC . See http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/new ... mtime-high or see www.rackspace.co.uk/fileadmin/uploads/i ... .pdf‎

Maybe we are talking different animals when you say top law firms and I refer to ambulance chasers. To me, ambulance chasers includes the big solicitors advertising claims services on TV. The firms that encourage whiplash claims. The top law firms to me are the likes of Linklaters.

But if we are talking the same then there is some funny reporting going on. Mind you the comments on the original article suggest that anyway.

I particularly liked the At the the end of the day we are the SRA......NO ONE REGULATES US! ‎ from one respondent.