Legal Services Act

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has been discharged from an undertaking it gave nearly two years ago to deal with concerns over the way it dealt with changes to the cab-rank rule. But in doing so, the Legal Services Board said it had continuing misgivings that have “directed our attention towards the BSB’s approach to regulation more broadly”.

Consumers using ‘unbundled’ legal services generally report a positive experience and it has the potential to widen access to justice, groundbreaking exploratory research has found. However, it made clear that other solutions were also needed to address the legal needs of “more vulnerable consumers” unable to unbundle.

Leading accountancy firm Kingston Smith has become the first alternative business structure (ABS) to switch regulators after being granted a licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Regulation accounts for between 15% and 23% of the costs of law firms, money they would generally not bother spending if they were not required to, an indicative study by the Legal Services Board has found. However, the opposite was the case for lawyers practising as individuals.

Improving market conditions saw Gateley record revenue growth of 11.5% and profits up 32% in its last financial year, the listed law firm told the stock exchange today. Becoming a public company is helping to differentiate the firm, improve its profile and aid recruitment, it also told investors.

A North West alternative business structure has launched the latest in a series of branded businesses calculated to appeal to its commercial clients and strengthen the bond between them and the firm.

Structures are “far from being as central to the success of a modern set as their proponents suggest”, the joint heads of the newly merged Drystone Chambers have argued. Karim Khalil QC and Andrew Campbell-Tiech QC also suggested that mergers between competing sets stored up problems for the future.

The first independent financial adviser to set up a law firm from scratch has added an estate agency to work alongside its alternative business structure. Leicester-based Bobby Dhanjal Legal Services has also brought its first trainee solicitor through to qualification.

The European directive on alternative dispute resolution will not only extend the period for making complaints about lawyers from six to twelve months, but reduce the grounds for the Legal Ombudsman to reject them from 14 to four, it has emerged.

Irwin Mitchell has said it is “not involved” in discussions with private equity firm Duke Street to buy part of the Parabis Group, contrary to reports in the Sunday Times. The group admitted today that it has held “discreet discussions with other like-minded businesses” as it considered options to restructure its business.