Alternative business structures

The world’s only two publicly listed legal practices, both in Australia, have announced strong results for the 2009/10 financial year. Slater & Gordon announced a 16% rise in profits to A$19.8m (£11.3m), with revenues up 21% to A$125m. Integrated Legal Holdings saw revenue grow 41% to A$24m, with profits up 44% to A$853,494.

As part of our commitment to be your central resource for all that is happening in the world of legal regulation and the Legal Services Act, we are starting a weekly round-up of other key stories and opinions that have emerged during the past seven days, starting with a warning that City firms accepting external capital could end up in the European Court of Justice.

Licensed conveyancers are to be the latest section of the legal profession to move to outcomes-focused regulation, as its regulator prepares to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures, meaning would-be ABSs will have a choice of regulator.

High street law firms need to do more to build their local profile to capture the 70% of people who say they do not have a local lawyer they could call on if needed, a new report has concluded. The research also found pessimism among sole practitioners, with 87% fearing for the future of their practices.

Private equity investors are interested in either the top City firms or niche practices, according to the solicitor who this week set up a law firm with private equity loans which could be turned into equity stakes when allowed.

The general regulatory chamber of the First-Tier Tribunal is set to hear appeals against decisions made over alternative business structures, it has emerged. The Legal Services Board believes appeals would be better with a single body than multiple bodies.

Alternative business structures (ABSs) are unlikely to create a “serious adverse impact” on access to justice, research conducted for the Law Society is to conclude.

For tech-savvy firms, alternative business structures will highlight the power of partnerships within the conveyancing sector, says David Kempster, marketing director at MDA SearchFlow.

The Law Society of Scotland has welcomed MSPs’ decision to regulate non-lawyer will-writers and to give clients access to compensation in the event of dishonesty by alternative business structures.

Alternative business structures (ABSs) in Scotland are set to need majority ownership of solicitors or other professionals after a vote in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

The Coalition government has scotched rumours that it is to scrap alternative business structures (ABSs), Legal Futures can confirm. We further understand that both ABSs and the Office for Legal Complaints are likely to get the green light from the Cabinet committee set up last week to review all upcoming regulation.

Nearly half of large law firms are planning to become alternative business structures (ABSs), Investec Specialist Private Bank has reported. A poll of 30 managing partners at an Investec event held last month revealed that 45% are considering establishing an ABS, and 36% are contemplating becoming a multi-disciplinary practice.

A new Cabinet committee is to review whether the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) and alternative business structures (ABSs) should be implemented, it emerged yesterday. The news comes as The Times speculated today that the new team at the Ministry of Justice might kick ABSs into the long grass, but investigations by Legal Futures indicate that there is no foundation for this.

Consumers of legal services are not tempted by the prospect of household name brands moving into legal services, research has found. It also revealed that ‘expense’ or ‘expensive’ was the word most commonly associated with the word ‘solicitor’, while almost half of those interviewed felt the experience represented poor value for money.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has today laid out the detail of its proposed new approach to regulation, including first sight of an outcomes-based code of conduct that at 46 pages is around a sixth the size of the current code.