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29 March 2023
Issue: 8019 / Categories: Legal News , Legal services , Profession
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Growth in legal services market value

The UK legal services market was worth £43.9bn in 2022, up 6.3% on 2021, with similar growth predicted for 2023, according to research by IRN Legal Reports.

Its 2023 UK Legal Services Market Trends Report, published last week, found the combined revenue of the top 100 UK law firms jumped 10% to £31.6bn last year. The top ten firms generated £17.2bn, up 8.7% on 2021.

However, the consumer legal markets (worth more than £17bn last year) registered mixed fortunes. The report notes the personal injury market ‘continued to struggle with claims numbers falling for the third year running’. Moreover, while the residential conveyancing market performed well for most of 2022, ‘the mini-budget and subsequent interest rate increases in autumn had an immediate negative impact on the sector and it is still struggling’.

Personal injury, accident and clinical negligence, worth about £4bn, form the largest consumer law segment, followed by family and employment law.

Issue: 8019 / Categories: Legal News , Legal services , Profession
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
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Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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