Gareth Harris and Keith Marshall, partners with RSM Restructuring Advisory, have been appointed joint administrators of the Yorkshire legal practice Unity Law Ltd, which hit financial problems following changes to the legal aid structure
The company specialised in noise induced hearing loss claims and equality cases including the high profile First Group plc vs Paulley case held in the Supreme Court, in which a bus operator was found to have discriminated against a passenger using a wheelchair.
The administrators said that despite significant investment, Unity Law suffered financially due to the changes in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), implemented in 2013.
The company tried to address the consequences of these changes over the last few years. This included expanding the business and attempting to dispose of the business to third parties. However these actions did not succeed and cases have now been transferred to CFA Law Ltd (trading as Fry Law).
Gareth Harris, RSM Restructuring Advisory partner and joint administrator, said: ‘It is very disappointing that despite extensive effort to rescue Unity Law in a solvent manner, this did not prove possible, but it is clear that the longer term impact of LASPO is still being felt in the legal market and it remains a challenging time for law firms.
‘We have however, managed to protect client’s interests by transferring existing cases to CFA law Ltd.’
