Legal firms across the UK are being urged to innovate and diversify in order to survive the suffering legal market, as the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) revealed yet another month of falling firm numbers.
Over the past 12 months, effectively since the introduction of the Jackson Reforms, 1,094 firms have closed their doors for business, which suggests an inability to adapt to the changes that were implemented by the government.
Out of these 475 ceased to practice, 388 changed their status, 180 merged or amalgamated and 51 had other reasons for closing, all of which reflects a worrying pattern for the legal profession.
Leading accountancy firm, Baker Tilly, has urged firms to become more innovative and diverse going forward, if they are to show any ambitions to survive. They also predicted that just a quarter of the 200 mid-tier firms may survive in the short to medium turn.
For those that have found a way to pull through what has obviously been a difficult two years for the legal profession, particularly for personal injury firms, a lot has been down to expanding and developing the range of services they can offer the general public.
Here at Scott Rees & Co we have managed to make progress in what are testing times for the profession thanks largely to the forward thinking of the partners, who took an innovative approach to adapt to the changes brought on by the introduction of the LASPO.
For the SRA these figures are disastrous and all eyes will be on them to see how they can innovate themselves under new leadership to assist firms moving forward and try and halt the slide.
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Image Source(s)
1. SRA; https://www.sra.org.uk/