LawPreneur

NZ Liquidations Hit 15-Year High as IRD Crackdown Triggers Insolvency Boom for Law Firms

Brent Norling

The numbers don’t lie — and right now they’re lighting up the insolvency and restructuring sector like a Christmas tree.

New data confirms 2,867 companies entered liquidation in 2025 — the highest annual total since 2010 and the fourth-highest in 25 years.

Centrix puts the figure at 2,934, while broader formal appointments (liquidations + receiverships + voluntary administrations) reached 3,080–3,132 — up 11–12% on 2024 and the highest level since the Global Financial Crisis.

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No JDs on Forbes’ 2026 Celebrity Billionaire List — But Kim Kardashian Just Failed the Bar and Refuses to Quit

Celebrity law richlist lawfuel

Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor The world’s 22 richest celebrity billionaires are worth a collective $48.1 billion as of March 1, 2026. Not one holds a J.D. or has ever practiced law. Forbes dropped the fresh ranking March 10, and the verdict for the legal profession is crystal clear: fame-first wealth still trumps billable hours.

No JDs on Forbes’ 2026 Celebrity Billionaire List — But Kim Kardashian Just Failed the Bar and Refuses to Quit Read More »

Private Equity-Backed Barristers Group Launches Tech-Driven Clerking Platform

Thebarristergroup cofounders

Private equity-backed legal chambers network The Barrister Group (TBG) has officially entered the outsourced services market, announcing the rollout of its new VENTRiQ platform—an outsourced clerking service built on TBG’s in-house operations infrastructure. The London-based group, which supports hundreds of remotely working barristers across the UK, says the service reflects growing demand from chambers and lawyers for scalable operational

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Ex‑Sidley Chair Bets Big on AI‑Native Law Firm Norm Law

Mike schmidtberger lawfuel

Sidley Austin’s former executive committee chair Mike Schmidtberger is trading Big Law leadership for an AI‑first experiment, stepping in as chairman and funds/regulatory head at two‑month‑old Norm Law LLP, an “AI‑native” firm built around legal agents rather than billable hours. This is a live test of whether a partner who doubled Sidley’s revenue can now

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Brabners’ Eight-Year Growth Streak Powers London Expansion: What Regional Firms Can Learn

Nik White Brabners - LawFuel

While London’s legal market dominates headlines with US firms driving salary wars and Magic Circle mergers, Brabners’ consistent growth story offers a compelling counter-narrative.

The firm’s eight consecutive years of profitable expansion demonstrates that sustainable growth doesn’t require a City postcode—it requires strategic vision, client focus, and calculated expansion timing. And leadership from people like managing partner Nik White (Pictured), who the firm described as the ‘driving force’ behind its growth.

At a time when UK law firms collectively generated £37 billion in revenue, with more than half posting double-digit increases, Brabners’ measured approach to London expansion represents a textbook case of regional strength leveraging metropolitan opportunity.
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9 Women Who Left Big Law And Built Thriving Businesses

women lawyers leaving the law

Many lawyers have successfully left traditional practice to build standout businesses, often crediting their legal training with giving them an edge in negotiation, risk assessment and complex problem‑solving, even while warning that perfectionism and over‑caution can slow entrepreneurial progress.

This makes their stories powerful case studies for any lawyer considering a legal career pivot into business or alternative law jobs.

We looked at nine former lawyers who have built successful businesses after leaving big law. Login to read . . .

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Phil Newland

LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 18 Phil Newland originated and grew litigation funding in New Zealand with the establishment of his LPF Group in 2009, most recently co-funding the landmark ASB/ANZ banking class action, in which more than 150,000 customers alleged disclosure breaches nder the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. The ASB settled for

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Top Construction Partner Left Law to Grow Hops & Returned

Russell McVeagh partner Brian Clayton

Why Russell McVeagh Partner Brian Clayton Ditched the Timesheet (Temporarily) and What It Did to His Lawyer Brain Most construction partners spend their careers praying the pipeline never dries up. Brian Clayton, on the other hand, actually walked away from it, swapping the office for a paddock, co-founded a fully integrated hops export business with

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Legal AI’s New Kid on the Block – An Entrepreneurial Lawyer Hacking the System

Soxton founder Logan Brown on LawFuel

Leaving Big Law for as Big Law AI Adventure Logan Brown is a 30-year-old Harvard Law whiz kid who’s decided to flip the script with Soxton, her self-proclaimed “AI-native” law firm with a backstory that reads like a millennial fever dream crossed with a legal thriller. Because why slog through Big Law’s soul-crushing grind when

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New Luxury Yacht Law Boutique Splits Course Between London and Hong Kong

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Superyacht Boutique Plants Flags in London and Hong Kong Teji | Cowie has launched a specialist superyacht firm with offices in London and Hong Kong. The partners, London-based Alex Teji and Hong Kong-based Antony Cowie, (pictured) say they bring about four decades of combined maritime, corporate and finance experience. The firm’s reach runs from Monaco

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