The future of the legal services market – alternative business structures and challenges for effective regulation
Guests of Honour:
Chris Kenny, Chief Executive, Legal Services Board;
Dr Vanessa Davies, Director, Bar Standards Board
Antony Townsend, Chief Executive, Solicitors Regulation Authority
This seminar, to be held by the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on 6 September in London, will examine the evolving nature of the legal services market since the passing of the Legal Services Act of 2007, with a particular focus on how introducing Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) this October may affect the future provision of legal services. With the introduction of ABSs fast approaching, the seminar will provide a timely opportunity to discuss likely challenges for an altered market where law firms are able to share management with non-lawyers and wider business interests, permitting shared ownership and external investment.
Planned sessions focus on how market standards can be effectively regulated under the new framework for service providers; where opportunities for external investors are likely to arise across the sector; challenges for the traditional legal profession and a discussion of best strategy in light of ABSs; how the changing nature of legal services can be effectively communicated to service users, including distinctions between reserved and unreserved services; and whether reforms will necessarily permit greater choice, competition and wider access to justice for the consumer.
Chris Kenny, Chief Executive, Legal Services Board; Dr Vanessa Davies, Director, Bar Standards Board and Antony Townsend, Chief Executive, Solicitors Regulation Authority have agreed to deliver keynote addresses at this seminar.
Diane Burleigh, Chief Executive, Institute of Legal Executives; Emma Harrison, Member, Legal Services Consumer Panel; Ben Holmes, Managing Director, Invest in Law; John Llewellyn-Lloyd, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Espirito Santo Investment Bank; Peter Lodder QC, Chairman of the Bar, Bar Council; Professor Stephen Mayson, Professor of Strategy and Director, Legal Services Institute, College of Law; Imelda Moffat, Manager, Information Law & Legal Services, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW); Joy Van Cooten, Chair, Association of Women Solicitors; Russell Wallman, Director of Government Relations, Law Society; Professor Julian Webb, Director, UK Centre for Legal Education, University of Warwick and Patricia Wheatley Burt, Director, Trafalgar and Author, Leadership for Law Firms: after the Legal Services Act have kindly agreed to speak.
Karl Turner MP, Member, Justice Select Committee has also kindly agreed to chair the first half of this seminar. Further senior participants are being approached.
For more details on this event and to book a place, please visit the Westminster Forum website
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