Alternative business structures

In-Deed, the new online conveyancing service from Rightmove founder Harry Hill, is eyeing up expansion into the will-writing and personal injury market. The company listed on AIM today with a market capitalisation of £8.6m.

Just 3% of consumers rate a recognisable brand such as Tesco, the Co-operative or the AA as an important factor when choosing a law firm, new research has found. However, the survey of 500 consumers found that 26% would nonetheless go to one of those three brands for legal advice – but 74% would choose a traditional law firm.

The Co-operative has this week broken new ground by offering face-to-face legal services, combined with financial services advice, through the Britannia bank. The pilot could be the precuror to legal services being delivered through 350 branches of Britannia and the Co-operative Bank.

It is highly unlikely that the Solicitors Regulation Authority will be able to license alternative business structures on 6 October, Legal Futures can reveal. Legal Services Board chief executive Chris Kenny has admitted to us that getting the required orders through Parliament in time is looking “not impossible but very difficult”.

The practising certificate fee is set to fall by 16.7% to £350 in the coming year, it has emerged. The news comes as the Solicitors Regulation Authority should tomorrow approve provisions that will allow it to amend an alternative business structure’s turnover figure – upon which the SRA’s fees will be based – if it feels the number does not reflect the true value of the legal services provided.

In-deed, the new online conveyancing business, could use the cash it raises from an AIM listing to inject capital into its panel law firms, it has emerged. The company hopes to float next month, with a market capitalisation projected at around £9m.

QualitySolicitors aims to be in nearly 1,000 locations across England and Wales by the end of the year as a result of expansion and its tie-up with WH Smith, chief executive Craig Holt has said. He revealed that the retailer is receiving a flat rental fee and no referral fees.

New entrants to the legal services market after October could have a significant advantage because they arrive with a fresh approach to IT, according to a leading commentator. Charles Christian said IT is at a “tipping point” where technology currently used by law firms is about to be superceded.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is investigating a new name for both itself and those it regulates as part of plans to attract alternative business structures shopping around for a regulator. It plans to use its position as an ABS licensing authority to strengthen and grow its “regulated community”.

Clients of law firms that provide retail financial services advice and convert to become alternative business structures could find themselves without access to a compensation fund or the firm’s professional indemnity insurance because of a hole in the Legal Services Act, it has emerged.