Today marks the start of the new claims process for uncontested road traffic accident claims worth between £1,000 and £10,000. It promises speedier and cheaper justice for minor injury victims. For law firms it offers great cash flow, quicker turnaround on cases and the possibility of delegating to more junior staff. What’s not to love? But isn’t that just the kind of work that would-be ABSs want?

Until recently barristers have not featured that much in talk about alternative business structures. But the Bar Council’s launch of a corporate vehicle that can be attached to chambers raises some difficult questions that barristers have to address about how they will develop their businesses in the future, and what may become of the junior bar.

The list of six reserved legal activities is, in some ways, all that separates a solicitor from a plumber who fancies setting himself up as, say, a “legal adviser”. It is quite a sobering thought and one reason why alternative business structures may not be quite the revolution some predict – the fact is that many of those who want to get into the legal market can already do what they want.

Research this week from Plan-Net showed that 42% of UK businesses are planning to roll out Windows 7 in the next 18 months. However, only 6% of the surveyed City organisations with at least 250 users have already installed Windows 7, while 24% are not thinking about rolling out Windows 7 at all and 20% have not decided what to do. This raises important questions about upgrading infrastructure and refreshing hardware which was skipped in the year of the credit crunch.

Why be a solicitor? That is a question that will be asked ever more frequently in the coming years when you could become a legal executive or a licensed conveyancer and, in all likelihood, enjoy most if not all of the same rights and privileges as solicitors.