Slater & Gordon moves in on small personal injury firms

Personal injury giant Slater & Gordon, which acquired Russell, Jones & Walker (RJW) in April this year, is buying up small personal injury firms and their files in the run-up to implementation of the Jackson reforms.

Caoilionn Hurley, chief commercial officer for Slater & Gordon in the UK (pictured), said: “If you look at the new regime and the cost of promoting your services, it’s going to be very difficult to maintain small, independent practices after April 2013. The cost models probably don’t leave much of a margin.”

Hurley told Solicitors Journal that while RJW had always worked with small firms which were closing down and moved clients across, things had become “much more active” and the focus much greater since the arrival of Slater & Gordon in the UK.

“It’s been an exciting 12 months,” Hurley said. “Things have just been getting busier and busier.

“I don’t think a month goes by without some files being transferred to us from a small practice. We’re a growing firm and keen to put a footprint down in more areas than we are in now.”

Hurley said a number of small firms had gone into a “holding position”, waiting to see what changes would actually come about.

“It could be a general practice where personal injury is just a part of the firm and it is all getting a bit much.

“My opinion is that in the next few months some people will clarify their position and decide that the new structure is not for them. Other people close to retirement age may decide it is all just too much effort.”

Hurley said Slater & Gordon would “love to work with these kind of practices and assist with an orderly transition”.

She added that where a practice wanted to sell out, Slater & Gordon would agree a price for the files and, with client consent, transfer the files. As part of its acquisitions strategy, Slater & Gordon is advertising in Solicitors Journal.

Michael Williamson, principal of Williamsons, a general practice in Crewkerne, Somerset, said too many people were "wailing about what would happen to the little people in the industry".

He went on: "It’s not all gloom and doom and despondency. We can compete, just as boutiques compete with hypermarkets.

"There is a range of people out there who we need to serve. It’s a big market."