Alternative business structures

The groundbreaking alternative business structure owned by two major trade unions has begun its plan to provide legal services to other unions after signing a deal with the British Dietetic Association to launch BDA Legal. In other ABS news, Fairpoint Group plc has announced that its bank has assigned its debt to a new financier.

Two alternative business structures have moved to extend their reach to corporate finance advisory work with separate joint ventures. Cardiff-based Greenaway Scott Group has launched a boutique as part of a joint venture with Lime Finance, while Needle Partners in Leeds has teamed up with Sheffield-based corporate advice firm Mackenzie Spencer.

Andrew Grech has stood down as group chief executive of Slater & Gordon after a recapitalisation deal was agreed with its lenders that will see them take control of the embattled law firm. The deal is intended to provide the firm with “a sustainable level of senior secured debt and a stable platform for its future operation”, it said.

Shares in Fairpoint Group have been temporarily suspended after its bank pulled its backing for the legal services business. The company said that because AIB Group (UK) plc was unwilling to provide the level of on-going support it had requested, it was unable to sign-off the audit of its 2016 annual report and accounts.

An alternative business structure specialising in property recovery and tenant evictions has been acquired by a major property industry insurer, Hamilton Fraser. Landlord Action Limited – whose founder fronts Channel 5 series Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords – plans to expand its fixed-fee landlord and letting agent-focused services.

Accountants are set to enjoy the right to handle litigation, advocacy and legal instruments in taxation work after the Legal Services Board approved an application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Its recommendation will now go to the Lord Chancellor for approval, despite the opposition of the Lord Chief Justice.

The low level of external investment in law firms since alternative business structures were allowed more than five years ago “may be a symptom of weak competition in the market overall”, a Legal Services Board report has suggested. There are also cultural and management factors, it found.

Online Legal Services Ltd – the company that runs the pioneering Divorce-Online website – has acquired south Wales family law firm Peter Thomas Law, Legal Futures can reveal. It will enable Divorce-Online to capture the work arising from more complex divorces that is currently outsourced to other solicitors.

A ‘virtual’ chambers that supports direct access work has set up an alternative business structure, as has a niche financial services chambers, which become the second and third to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board. It licensed its first ABS, a collaboration between a London chambers and football agents, earlier this month.

NAHL plc – the AIM-listed owner of National Accident Helpline – has lined up a second alternative business structure joint venture as it bids to double the cases it handles over the coming years, it has emerged in the wake of last week’s announcement of its first, Your Law, in association with NewLaw Solicitors.

NAHL, the marketing business that owns National Accident Helpline, is to launch its own law firm after being awarded an alternative business structure licence and signing a deal with Cardiff-based NewLaw Solicitors. It will trade under the name Your Law LLP and is expected to start business on 1 July.

Turnover at the country’s first listed law firm, Gateley, has gone up by at least 15% in the last financial year, it announced to the stock exchange today as its share price reached an all-time high. It said revenue for the financial year ended 30 April 2017 will be not less than £77m, up from £67m the previous year.

The Bar Standards Board has licensed its first alternative business structure, a combination of barristers from 2 Dr Johnson’s Buildings and football agents. VII Law – which started life last year as a BSB entity – is working alongside VII Management, a sports, entertainment and media business.

Top 50 accountancy firm Barnes Roffe has become the latest to gain an alternative business structure licence, Legal Futures can reveal. Meanwhile, Nottingham Law School’s ABS and ‘teaching law firm’ has launched a business and enterprise law service to provide affordable legal advice to small businesses, entrepreneurs and charities.

A law firm has acquired an alternative business structure licence to facilitate an equity swap, as part of its bid to integrate with a firm of Singapore lawyers and comply with restrictive local laws on ownership. A regulatory rule change in Singapore made it difficult for the branches of foreign firms to operate.