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Question mark over future of Ince trainees as listed law firm goes under

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Outfit set to appoint administrators; but where does this leave rookies and TC holders?

Listed law firm Ince has fallen into administration raising questions over the future of both its current and future trainees.

A statement to the London Stock Exchange this afternoon said a major creditor decided to no longer continue to support the business and so the board “regrettably concluded” to appoint an administrator to protect the interests of staff.

Insolvency firm Quantuma will be appointed as administrator with the expectation that it will sell the group to a third party as soon as possible.

The 2023 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

Our Firms Most List 2023 shows Ince takes around 12 trainees each year, totalling 24 across the two-year training contract. There are potentially the same number of future trainees whose training contracts hang in the balance as the firm recruits two years in advance.

A firm spokesperson told Legal Cheek that they were currently unable to provide any additional comment beyond what is in the statement.

Ince has repeatedly missed deadlines to publish its accounts. Today’s announcement states the audit process for the year ended 31 March 2022 remains uncompleted and shares have been suspended since the start of the year. “The length of the auditing process has put increasing pressure on the cash flows of the business,” the announcement said.

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11 Comments

Lush Fragrance

HFW, C&C, and SH must be rubbing their hands!

(35)(8)

anaonz

Feel for all the support and junior staff. Senior management should hang their heads in shame.

(58)(1)

Harper

Any word on what’s happening to the trainees?

(10)(7)

OB

That’s the point of this article … it’s unknown

(29)(0)

Pro Bono

From the front page of their website: “We are known for turning complex solutions into comprehensive explanations.” Eh? Don’t you mean “complex situations”? If they can’t even get something as basic as this right it’s hardly surprising they’ve gone bust.

But once again there will no doubt be many small businesses that will go unpaid.

Solicitors who have been directors or members of an insolvent company / LLP should be automatically suspended from practice for two years instead of just acting like used car dealers in setting up again under a new name and leaving their creditors in the lurch.

(14)(24)

Eh?

I think they meant “complex solution” – ie. They present solutions in a detailed yet easy to understand manner.

It makes even less sense to turn a “complex situation” into a “comprehensive explanation”….have you also gone bust?

(60)(1)

TOPKEK

Lmaoooooo 😂

(4)(0)

GP

Out of interest, will the partners from their offices be able to land gigs quickly? What about those partners in their overseas offices?

(3)(0)

Sir Chasm

There will be strong demand for them given they worked in low margin markets that have seen that margin crushed year on year for the last few decades.

(2)(0)

One of the victims

Can anyone recommend a practitioner for “Shame Management”?

(7)(0)

We care

Yes, it must have filled you with shame to have to work there in the first place.

(3)(0)

Comments are closed.

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