Legal Services Act

Well-known legal expenses insurer Abbey Protection plc should complete its acquisition of a law firm early next year, it revealed yesterday after receiving an alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has told the regulators it oversees that now is the time for them to prove they can deliver what is expected of them, warning that it will put their promises “to the test”. The LSB said its focus in 2013/14 will be on the performance of the regulators.

The new Bar Council chairman has pledged to work towards proving that the Legal Services Board is not needed. In a stinging attack, Maura McGowan QC warned that “it is not the function of a regulator to seek the total dismantling and restructuring of the system”.

Leading defendant law firm DAC Beachcroft has joined forces with a leading business process outsourcer to offer insurers an extended motor claims-handling service. The agreement with Innovation Group mirrors the claimant outsourcing service the likes of Quindell Portfolio are putting together.

Alternative business structures will create “conveyancing factories” that exert a downward pressure on prices and could lead to an upsurge in complaints because of a focus on volume over service, the Legal Ombudsman has warned.

Alternative business structures in the personal injury market will do little to improve injured people’s access to justice but will benefit larger law firms at the expense of smaller ones, a new survey has found. Firms were split over whether their business models can survive the Jackson reforms.

A new national marketing network of solicitors specialising in personal injury claims will be launched in the New Year with funding to spend more than £3m a year on advertising as firms come to terms with the upcoming ban on referral fees. Meanwhile new ABS Thompsons hinted at possible alliances with trade unions.

Connect2Law – the largest network of law firms in England and Wales – is planning to raise its profile and make itself the “UK’s leading response for law firms” to the post-Legal Services Act market. As a sign of intent it has recruited David Jabbari as its new chief executive.

Not-for-profit (NFP) advice agencies should be allowed to charge for providing legal services soon, the Legal Services Board said yesterday, while also announcing a delay in the creation of an alternative business structure licensing scheme until at least April 2015 because no regulator is ready to provide it.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) came under fire for “mission creep” in the House of Lords last night. In a debate initiated by Bar Standards Board chair Baroness Deech, several lawyer peers accused the LSB of going further than the oversight role envisaged for it.