News & Views

The outsourcing of marketing activity has become a common feature of many law firms that handle claims-related work - a tacit acceptance perhaps that attracting clients requires specialist skills which some lawyers simply do not have.

My, how Ebenezer Scrooge’s fortunes had changed in the years since the ghostly visitations had left him clinging to a tattered bed-curtain, pleading for absolution.

More than three quarters of the law firm leaders responding to the O’Connors’ Law Firm Leaders Survey said their most pressing business concern was recruiting staff, with over a third saying they were having difficulties retaining staff. Notwithstanding these challenges, more than half said they are planning to increase their headcount and only a tenth planning to reduce it.

O'Connors has advised Manchester-based law firm Express Solicitors on its acquisition of a North West counterpart as it strengthens its practice in personal injury law, adding 2,500 ongoing cases and 37 staff.

Liverpool and Manchester commercial law firm, Bermans, has been acquired by MAPD Group for an undisclosed sum, and is planning for a period of growth.

Shortly before The Queen’s Coronation in 1953, Liverpool-born singer Lita Roza topped the hit parade with the much-loved pop classic ‘How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?’ The track was nudged out of the Coronation Order of Service by Zadok the Priest, but rumour has it the Archbishop of Canterbury was humming it throughout rehearsals.

Nelson Mandela said that money won’t create success but the freedom to make it will. Perhaps this explains why more and more companies are using employee share schemes as a means of incentivising staff - aligning the interests of employees and shareholders whilst providing tax-efficient rewards.

American actor and comedian Jonathan Katz once said that he hated going to funerals because he was not a mourning person. Well at least he had a funeral plan.

Selling a business is usually the biggest decision a business owner takes and managing a sale process is emotionally demanding and time-consuming - time away from running the business. Taking steps to prepare your business for a sale, well before a buyer is on the horizon, will make things very much easier when the sale process starts.

Under section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (‘FSMA’) there is a general prohibition against a person (which includes a body corporate) carrying on (or purporting to carry on) a regulated activity in the UK unless they are an authorised or exempt person. Carrying on a regulated activity in breach of this general prohibition is a criminal offence and could result in certain agreements entered into being unenforceable.