Legal Services Act

A leading personal injury practice has become the latest law firm to obtain an alternative business structure licence as part of its preparations for the impact of the Jackson reforms. Co-founder David Bott is the immediate past president of APIL.

Co-operative Legal Services has refused to be drawn into a spat with QualitySolicitors over whether so-called ‘supermarket law’ offers an inferior service compared to high street solicitors, instead underlining its appeal to people who normally shun lawyers.

Our latest round-up of news you need to know includes the SRA launching an investigation into the conduct of solicitors after the Hillsborough disaster, the latest ABS licences, PC renewal details, and a bid to ensure high standards of complaints handling among conveyancers.

QualitySolicitors has today unveiled an exclusive partnership with online legal services provider LegalZoom – the most recognised legal brand in the US – ahead of an advertising campaign that will by openly hostile to supermarkets, banks and others offering legal services.

Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has today launched its much-touted family law operation in London, offering services on a fixed fee as standard. CLS, which was one of the first three alternative business structures, has so far recruited 22 fee-earners.

A new commercial law firm in Harrogate has launched with a fixed-fee product to support clients in conducting their own litigation. In the latest bid to challenge the traditional hourly billing model, Towers Legal is also offering a fixed-fee ‘virtual’ in-house lawyer service.

Regulators of the legal profession will have to gather and publish evidence of where lawyers are falling down on quality – including information on disciplinary action – following a wide-ranging review by the Legal Services Board.

Lenders’ panel selection decisions, rather than alternative business structures (ABSs), are the main cloud hanging over the conveyancing industry, according to new research. Only a fifth are planning or considering becoming an ABS.

The names of 772 law firms which have been the subject of a formal decision by the Legal Ombudsman were published today – but an analysis by this website shows the ombudsman was happy with the law firm’s actions in more than half of the cases made public.

Defendant insurance firm Keoghs has struck a deal to accept external investment once it receives its alternative business structure licence, it has confirmed. The firm said the funding will help accelerate its growth plans.

Online conveyancing business In-Deed is lining up a second law firm acquisition as it shifts its focus away from a direct-to-consumer model, its first annual report has revealed. The AIM-listed company’s chairman is Rightmove founder Harry Hill.

A proposed £50,000 cap on compensation claims against alternative business structures licensed by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board is too restrictive, it has been argued as the board prepares to become an ABS licensing authority.

The only UK law firm focusing exclusively on handling liability claims for self-insured companies has become the latest alternative business structure (ABS) and plans to use the status to help it take on larger competitors.

The Legal Services Board yesterday laid out how it will monitor the impact of alternative business structures and other reforms on access to justice. The attempt to “baseline” access to justice and to evaluate change over time proposes 18 measures.

A will-writer is planning to use his new alternative business structure (ABS) licence to expand into the conveyancing market, Legal Futures can report. Further, an IFA is planning a specialist multi-disciplinary ABS with a law firm focusing on the over-55s.