Alternative business structures

A volume conveyancing business owned by Britain’s fourth largest building society is targeting a move into other areas of legal services after receiving its alternative business structure (ABS) licence.

Alternative business structures (ABSs) are increasingly on the radar of the top 100 law firms, with a growing number recognising them as threats to their profitability – and one in five planning ABS conversion themselves, according to new research.

A commercial claims management company is considering converting to an alternative business structure (ABS) to further its work in aiding investors recoup losses from complex investments which they have been mis-sold.

Barristers are likely to be allowed to form partnerships next year and before they can create alternative business structures, the Bar Standards Board said last week. Meanwhile, it dropped a proposal to force barristers to withdraw from cases where a client refuses to reveal previous convictions to the court.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to “streamline” the alternative business structure (ABS) application process, its chief executive has revealed after its approach and the time it takes were criticised at a high-profile event yesterday.

A Mayfair-based private client firm that has close links to a wealth manager and a personal injury practice that is diversifying into other areas of law have become the first new alternative business structures in nearly a month.

The law firm that yesterday agreed to be bought by Quindell Portfolio did so in the face of a “future laced with uncertainty” for personal injury practitioners, its managing partner has told Legal Futures.

AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio is to acquire its second leading claimant personal injury (PI) law firm after reaching agreement to purchase Pinto Potts for around £14m. The deal also extends Quindell’s offering to insurers beyond PI.

“Numerous” external investors will appear alongside consolidation and new structures once the “floodgates of change” hit the personal injury market next year – with just five or six claimant firms likely to dominate – an authoritative new report has predicted.

Insurance company Direct Line will shortly make an application to become an alternative business structure, with the referral fee ban set to choke off a source of income that has raised £110m over the past three and a half years, it has emerged.

A company that currently provides small businesses with accountancy and HR advice is set to move into legal services, with an alternative business structure application and the acquisition of law firms likely, Legal Futures can reveal.

A new business that brings together a law firm with seven other service providers needed to manage a motor accident from collision to settlement has applied for alternative business structure status, Legal Futures can report.

US law firms are increasingly running into trouble when they allow non-lawyers to take an active part in front-of-house relationships with clients, a top California legal regulator has revealed.

The AA has applied for an alternative business structure licence, Legal Futures can reveal. It follows the success of the motoring giant’s online legal document service, which was launched two years ago.

Over-50s specialist Saga has today launched a new range of legal services which it claims aims to make the market “more straightforward in terms of charges, language and accessibility” – and has also applied for an alternative business structure licence.