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Scottish solicitors have voted against the planned introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs), it was announced today. Law Society of Scotland members voted 3:2 that only solicitors should own law firms, while a compromise that solicitors should be in the majority of owners was defeated, despite support from the floor at today’s reconvened SGM.

Just 11 accountants have blown the whistle on their solicitor clients over concerns about fraud, theft or other conduct that may render them unfit to hold client money, as required by the Solicitors Accounts Rules, it has emerged. Blowing the whistle became an obligation, rather than an encouragement, just over a year ago.

As chair of the new Legal Services Consumer Panel, Dr Dianne Hayter challenges the profession’s orthodoxy with strong views on how the legal landscape should develop. Neil Rose finds that she also uses a different kind of language.

The new president of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys has highlighted the challenges of the legal profession’s new regulatory structure as a key challenge facing her as she takes up office. ITMA is one of the eight approved regulators under the Legal Services Act and it has combined its regulatory function with that of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents.

With alternative business structures now 18 months away, Neil Rose looks at how the recommendations of the Jackson report could be overtaken in the new legal services environment. In particular, what might claims management companies, third-party funders and class action specialists do?

Many accountants are failing both to qualify their reports and to blow the whistle on solicitors’ wrongdoing, the chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales’ solicitors group said last week. Only 35% of accountants’ reports are qualified – despite the intricate nature of the rules – while hardly any accountants have blown the whistle a year after the rules were changed to require it.

Law firms currently in the assigned risk pool (ARP) have paid just 22% of their insurance premiums, while insurers are rapidly increasing the reserve for claims these firms may cause, it has emerged. The 262 firms currently in the ARP were liable for £7.5 million in premiums – both record figures – of which just £1.7 million has been paid.

The Law Society has told the 2,911 law firms which have their professional indemnity insurance with Quinn that they do not need to take action at the moment, despite a warning that they may have to seek fresh cover within four weeks of the company’s provisional administration being confirmed.

With the Legal Services Act reforms on the horizon, Colin Loth, Manager of Legal at international recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark, discusses the impact the Act will have on the job market and talented legal professionals.

This week’s SRA Question of Ethics looks at what you should do if a client leaves you with an item which you think would be relevant to a police investigation. Should you had it over to the police?