Alternative business structures

Many of the regulations underpinning the regulatory regime for legal services – including those designating the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Council for Licensed Conveyancers as ABS licensing authorities – are under the microscope as part of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, it has emerged.

The first will-writer to be granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence says she hopes others will follow suit so as to “level the playing field” with solicitors. Parchment Law Group became the seventh ABS last Friday.

Eighteen solicitors were sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last year for breaches of anti-money laundering obligations, the Law Society has reported. It has also identified alternative business structures as among the increased risks of money laundering facing the profession.

A Buckinghamshire-based will-writing company has today become the latest recipient of an alternative business structure licence. Parchment Wills & Legal Services Ltd of Gerrards Cross is a founder member of the Institute of Professional Willwriters.

A niche property law firm in Oxfordshire has become the sixth alternative business structure to be licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Its senior partner said becoming an ABS gives the firm “additional flexibility in terms of structuring our business”.

Co-operative Legal Services may look to acquire a conveyancing practice as it brings property work in-house, it revealed yesterday. The revelation came during a press briefing that laid out the Co-op’s strategy more clearly than ever before.

The Co-operative Group has today announced plans to create 3,000 jobs in the legal sector as it laid out its ambitions to create the largest consumer law business in the country. It will also offer face-to-face advice in all 330 of its bank branches.

The Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg) will apply this year to become an alternative business structure licensing authority, it has emerged, joining the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to push ahead with changes to the SRA Handbook that will leave it to in-house lawyers to decide whether the law requires that their legal teams become alternative business structures.

Alternative business structures may well herald the demise of hourly billing as legal practice becomes even more competitive, the Master of the Rolls has predicted. Contingency fees and price comparision websites will also play a role.

It is “demeaning” to suggest that non-lawyers becoming involved in alternative business structures are less likely to be ethical, the chairman of the Legal Services Board claimed last night. David Edmonds also pointed to a string of scandals involving lawyers.

A leading insurance intermediary has agreed a £120m contract with the proposed alternative business structure (ABS) being put together by Quindell Portfolio. Quindell is awaiting SRA approval for its acquisition of Liverpool law firm Silverbeck Rymer.

Twelve regulators and professional bodies from the legal, accountancy, financial and property sectors have finally signed a formal agreement aimed at co-ordinating the oversight of multi-disciplinary practices.

Kent Legal Services – the legal arm of Kent County Council – is planning to launch an alternative business structure in conjunction with regional law firm Geldards, it has emerged.

Solicitors Regulation Authority is acting unreasonably by leaving it to in-house lawyers to decide whether the law requires that their legal teams become alternative business structures, the Law Society has claimed.