Legal Services Act

Personal injury firms have weathered the recession better than any other area of practice – and are far more likely to be looking for external investment than any other as well, one of the largest-ever surveys of solicitors’ firms has found. It said employment, family and corporate / commercial specialists also performed better than average.

Quindell Portfolio and Abbey Protection, AIM-listed companies which both received their alternative business structure licences last month, have reported that their 2012 results are looking good. Quindell said it has had more approaches from prospective acquisition targets, while Abbey is planning an acquisition.

A social welfare law firm, a boutique dispute resolution practice, and a dedicated volume remortgage specialist that wants to align its structure with its corporate clients, are among the most recent alternative business structures licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

An innovative US website that crowdsources advice to legal questions for free is on its way to the UK after it was acquired by online document service Rocket Lawyer, Legal Futures can reveal. LawPivot provides answers to any legal question from a network of more than 2,000 lawyers.

Leading insurance law firm Horwich Farrelly has become an alternative business structure in preparation for April’s civil justice reforms, and is planning to add non-legal claims services to its offering. The Manchester-based practice has more than 400 staff.

Many small and medium-sized law practices expect alternative business structures to affect them directly, with a third saying they could merge with another firm and one in five likely to seek external funding and/or bring in non-lawyer owners, a survey has found.

More than 450 firms have started the alternative business structure application process over the past year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. Having started accepting applications on 3 January 2012, the SRA said that 454 firms have since started the process.

The Legal Ombudsman has won approval for changes to its rules that bring them more in line with the Financial Ombudsman Service and so equip it better to deal with alternative business structures like Co-operative Legal Services.

There is not much of a future for small law firms in the face of competition from banks and retailers, while medium-sized practice will need to merge and seek external investment to survive and thrive, leading legal ‘futurologist’ Professor Richard Susskind has predicted.

Controversial rule changes that scrap the minimum salary for trainee solicitors and allow solicitors to refer clients to tied financial advisers were approved last month by the Legal Services Board. In both cases the LSB found that there was no reason to refuse the applications.

A start-up company aimed at offering small and medium-sized businesses a wide range of legal and non-legal advice has received its alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Regulators face an “uphill struggle” to put consumers in a position where they can be useful in helping to driving competition in the legal market, a study has warned. The Legal Services Consumer Panel suggested consumers are “currently not very empowered” and lack confidence.

An international boutique legal consultancy headed by Cherie Booth QC, which advises governments on strategy, has received an alternative business structure licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Omnia Strategy hit the headlines last year when it was reported to be advising the government of Bahrain.

The government is to try and overturn a House of Lords vote that the Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO) jurisdiction should extend to bailiffs – although the ombudsman himself has said he is open to the idea. Shortly before Christmas, peers voted 233 to 191 in favour of an amendment to the Crime and Courts Bill.

The first law firm with individual non-lawyer investors has been granted its alternative business structure licence. Everyman Legal – which both employs lawyers at its Oxfordshire base and has developed a network of home-working solicitors around the country – has six private investors who will shortly become shareholders of the firm.