Legal Services Act

Berwin Leighton Paisner has sought to be raise the bar for innovation in the City with the launch of a four-pronged ‘Integrated Client Service Model’. It combines process mapping, outsourcing, ‘virtual transaction teams’, and the opening of a ‘legal services delivery team’ in Manchester.

Innovative legal practice Radiant Law has moved to an in-sourcing model for some of its work by opening an office in South Africa last week – while also applying for an alternative business structure licence to enable a leading retailer to become its chairman.

A barrister has failed in his judicial review of a decision of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) that he did not deal with a complaint properly. LeO has welcomed the ruling for setting the bar high when challenging its decisions.

The Lord Chancellor yesterday approved the application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) to become a regulator of probate services and licensing authority for alternative business structures.

Allianz has become the latest insurance company to set up an alternative business structure, launching ALP Law LLP in partnership with specialist personal injury firm Serious Law.

Admiral Group is the overwhelmingly dominant partner in the joint venture alternative business structures (ABSs) it has set up with law firms Lyons Davidson and Cordner Lewis, the insurer’s annual results have shown.

Statutory guidance that requires legal regulators to move away from assuming would-be lawyers have to spend a certain amount of time training before they qualify was published yesterday by the Legal Services Board.

The law firm acquired last week by accident management giant Helphire believes it has secured its place in a future slimmed-down personal injury market, and will be one of the ‘last men standing’ now it can offer a one-stop shop.

Many criminal law firms will have to merge, or enter into joint ventures, or form alternative business structures, to survive, after the government announced yesterday that it would push ahead with legal aid reforms that are predicated on market consolidation.

Leading accident management company Helphire Group plc has acquired alternative business structure (ABS) pioneer New Law in a deal that could ultimately be worth more than £40m.

American consumer law firm Jacoby & Meyers, which last year laid out ambitious plans for the UK, will take a twin-track approach to expansion, with both branded offices and affiliations with existing practices, its newly appointed chief executive has revealed.

A network set up as an alternative to established will writing representative bodies has claimed that in less than a fortnight since launch, it has already received applications from a quarter as many prospective members as it planned to sign up in the whole of 2014.

Countrywide Conveyancing Services – an alternative business structure (ABS) that is one of the country’s largest conveyancing outfits – has issued a statement of its intent to grow by buying another leading property law firm.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers wants the power to regulate lawyers other than licensed conveyancers, as part of a strategy targeted at expanding its role within the property sector.

The Legal Services Board is heading for another confrontation with the Law Society after proposing to take away its responsibility for appointing the chairman and board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.