Alternative business structures

Remember the ProcureCo? Most have forgotten this corporate bolt-on to chambers, little more than two years after it was launched. We asked the Bar Council what happened to its big idea.

Third-party litigation funders thinking of investing in law firms to avoid liability for adverse costs will have to try their luck in front of the court after an important report on contingency fees refused to make a recommendation on whether this should be possible.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority should develop a fast track for legal disciplinary practices seeking approval to operate as alternative business structures, according to the largest of three firms granted their ABS licences yesterday.

One of the country’s best-known personal injury lawyers has formed the latest alternative business structure as he prepares for the introduction of the Jackson reforms. Initially the move is to bring an accountant into partnership.

A corporate/commercial solicitor has launched the latest alternative business structure with a view to forming partnerships with other professionals. Joanne Bligh has set up Thinking Legal in Birmingham.

Red Bar Law has become the first start-up alternative business structure, offering clients early access to barristers and costs savings of at least 30%. It is the brainchild of a solicitor and business consultant.

Early interest in the Scottish form of alternative business structures is coming from solicitors looking to form partnerships with other professionals, rather than seeking external investment, the Law Society of Scotland has revealed.

Big brands providing legal services will face “risks and pressures” which are not present in smaller private practice law firms – but the measures in place to control them “are likely to be substantial”, a senior member of the Co-operative Legal Services team has claimed, explaining what new entrants to the law will bring.

The ban on law centres and other not-for-profit organisations charging for advice should be lifted as part of plans to bring them into the alternative business structure regime, the Legal Services Consumer Panel has said.

It will take up to 10 years for the true effects of alternative business structures (ABSs) to be felt, Professor Richard Susskind said this week. He said the only certainty at the moment was that much of the £25bn legal market is “very inefficient”.

Alternative business structures cannot be viewed as law firms and will not be allowed to operate in France, the body representing the 179 French bar associations has said. They claimed ABSs conflict with lawyers’ independence.

Well-known business services provider Jordans Ltd is to set up an alternative business structure aimed at handling outsourced legal work for both companies and law firms, it has emerged.

A groundbreaking project that aims to encourage students to think about innovation in the post-alternative business structure world – and help them develop new ideas for delivering legal services – has been launched by Sheffield Hallam University.

A will-writing and probate services company in Birmingham has become the latest alternative business structure, and only the second licensed by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

Three of the seven ABSs so far approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority have been granted waivers as part of their applications, it has emerged. It also warned applicants who may have tight timescales for approval that it will not guarantee to meet them.