Alternative business structures

The Lord Chancellor yesterday approved the application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) to become a regulator of probate services and licensing authority for alternative business structures.

The law firm acquired last week by accident management giant Helphire believes it has secured its place in a future slimmed-down personal injury market, and will be one of the ‘last men standing’ now it can offer a one-stop shop.

Many criminal law firms will have to merge, or enter into joint ventures, or form alternative business structures, to survive, after the government announced yesterday that it would push ahead with legal aid reforms that are predicated on market consolidation.

One of the UK’s largest debt management companies, Harrington Brooks, which has an annual turnover of around £30m, has created an alternative business structure run by its head of legal services.

Many of the big insurance companies that have set up alternative business structure (ABS) joint ventures have signed up to a new code of practice laying out how they can point policyholders who may have a personal injury claim towards their law firms.

A string of recent cases indicate that judges may be increasingly tempted to remind solicitors of their duty to act impartially in litigation, in an era of alternative business structures (ABSs) where their loyalties might be tested, according to a leading criminal lawyer.

A central London firm of accountants has set up an alternative business structure (ABS) as a means of keeping control of legal work that it previously referred to third party law firms.

Alternative business structures (ABSs) will create additional demand for legal services outsourcing (LSO) and could in time become LSO providers themselves, a new book has predicted.

PwC Legal’s alternative business structure (ABS) licence will give its expansion plans “rocket fuel”, its UK senior partner has claimed. Speaking to Legal Futures, senior partner Shirley Brookes agreed with those describing the move as a ‘game changer’.

The impact of alternative business structures (ABSs) on organisations with in-house lawyers is likely to be felt most in the third sector, major new research has found – but hundreds of private companies and public authorities are looking at conversion too.

The former head of construction at City giant Norton Rose has turned his legal consultancy into an alternative business structure, but has had difficulty finding a non-lawyer professional partner of similar standing to link up with.

The chief executive of a blue-chip global wealth adviser that administers £200bn of assets has predicted alternative business structures are a reform of law firm ownership that other countries will have to adopt – having just secured a licence itself.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has hedged the award of alternative business structure (ABS) licences to accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers and insurer Direct Line Group with a host of conditions, it has emerged.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has become the first of the ‘big four’ accountants to become an alternative business structure (ABS), it announced today. The move allows it to become the owner of, and investor in, PwC Legal.

The alternative business structure (ABS) set up by Jordans – the company best known for its company formation services and legal textbooks – is looking to work with its existing law firm clients as an outsourcer, not compete with them, its CEO emphasised this week.