Alternative business structures

Scottish solicitors have now voted to allow a minority of external ownership of law firms, it emerged today. In the latest twist of the ongoing saga of members of the Law Society of Scotland trying to find a compromise, two motions were narrowly passed at today’s AGM in favour of alternative business structures, but with inconsistent terms.

There are to be four extra core professional duties when the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) unveils a slimmed-down Code of Conduct later this week, it has emerged. The draft 40-page code – which will form part of an online Solicitors Handbook bringing together all of the SRA’s regulatory regime – is at the heart of next year’s move to outcomes-focused regulation.

The Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has launched a comprehensive, one-call accident management service for brokers and insurers. The new service highlights the way that non-legal brands can pull together a range of services, of which legal help is just one part, to offer consumers a full package that lawyers willl struggle to match.

The council of the Law Society of Scotland has today ditched its support for all forms of alternative business structures and instead backed a compromise that favours majority ownership of law firms remaining with solicitors, or solicitors with other regulated professionals.

Barristers were yesterday given the tools to bolt a corporate vehicle onto their chambers which can bid for work, instruct solicitors and also bring clerks and others into ownership roles. The Bar Council’s new business model, dubbed ProcureCo, raises the possibility of barristers competing with solicitors for work.

No claimant personal injury (PI) law firm will exist in five years’ time if it does not have 20-30 fee-earners, a leading PI practitioner predicted last week. Richard Langton, managing partner in the Birmingham office of Russell Jones & Walker, said this would enable firms to open from at least eight in the morning to eight in the evening, and perhaps on Saturdays too.

High street solicitors may soon become a thing of the past if steps are not taken to curb and regulate the predatory marketing of national organisations keen to move into the legal sector next year, the Lawyers Defence Group has warned. It spoke out in the wake of an announcement by the Co-operative Group that it intends to launch a nine-week campaign promoting its legal services to shoppers in its nationwide chain of 3,000 supermarkets.

Scottish solicitors have voted against the planned introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs), it was announced today. Law Society of Scotland members voted 3:2 that only solicitors should own law firms, while a compromise that solicitors should be in the majority of owners was defeated, despite support from the floor at today’s reconvened SGM.

With alternative business structures now 18 months away, Neil Rose looks at how the recommendations of the Jackson report could be overtaken in the new legal services environment. In particular, what might claims management companies, third-party funders and class action specialists do?

Legal Futures Editor Neil Rose recently edited ‘Legal Efficiency’, a supplement published by The Times covering a range of key issues facing the profession as it moves into a new era. This is his article on the likely implications of alternative business structures

The row about introducing alternative business structures in Scotland took a fresh turn this week after members of the Law Society of Scotland voted very narrowly to support the current policy in favour of them.

The SRA has launched what it describes as its biggest-ever consultation exercise as it seeks to engage the profession over the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation and alternative business structures.

Most of what private equity firms know about the law is that it is an old-fashioned industry that does not look very investor friendly. Law firms need to adopt a corporate structure if they want to impress them, experts tell Patricia Wheatley-Burt.

The chief executive of the Legal Services Board has urged local government lawyers to seize the opportunities presented by the prospective introduction of alternative business structures in mid-2011.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is set to apply to the Legal Services Board for the power to grant rights of audience and rights to conduct litigation to licensed conveyancers. It is part of a package of measures aimed at putting the CLC in the position to apply to become an alternative business structures licensing authority.