Alternative business structures

Regulators need to speed up their processes for approving alternative business structures, the Office of Fair Trading said today. It also called for further simplification of the complaints system, recommended actions to increase the number of available pupillages and gave cautious support for the move away from title-based regulation.

Not all alternative business structure applicants have understood what is required of them, which in part explains delays in approving some licences, the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said in a robust defence of the regulator’s performance that also dealt with compliance officer approvals.

The millionaire co-founder of Betfair – the world’s largest betting exchange – is the principal investor behind new alternative business structure Brilliant Law, it has emerged. Brilliant Law said it is the UK’s first law firm set up by non-lawyers, a team “renowned for challenging the markets within which they operate”

Personal injury firms have weathered the recession better than any other area of practice – and are far more likely to be looking for external investment than any other as well, one of the largest-ever surveys of solicitors’ firms has found. It said employment, family and corporate / commercial specialists also performed better than average.

Quindell Portfolio and Abbey Protection, AIM-listed companies which both received their alternative business structure licences last month, have reported that their 2012 results are looking good. Quindell said it has had more approaches from prospective acquisition targets, while Abbey is planning an acquisition.

A social welfare law firm, a boutique dispute resolution practice, and a dedicated volume remortgage specialist that wants to align its structure with its corporate clients, are among the most recent alternative business structures licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Leading insurance law firm Horwich Farrelly has become an alternative business structure in preparation for April’s civil justice reforms, and is planning to add non-legal claims services to its offering. The Manchester-based practice has more than 400 staff.

More than 450 firms have started the alternative business structure application process over the past year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. Having started accepting applications on 3 January 2012, the SRA said that 454 firms have since started the process.

The Legal Ombudsman has won approval for changes to its rules that bring them more in line with the Financial Ombudsman Service and so equip it better to deal with alternative business structures like Co-operative Legal Services.

A start-up company aimed at offering small and medium-sized businesses a wide range of legal and non-legal advice has received its alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.