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It’s always a dilemma as to when to go into print with rumour that nobody will confirm on the record but this is too important not to, especially as I’ve been asking around on it and so am not just relying on one source. But I should stress that it remains a rumour.

Sole practitioners are set to requisition a special general meeting of the Law Society and a postal vote of all solicitors in a bid to overturn Chancery Lane’s support for alternative business structures (ABSs) and wreck the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become an ABS regulator, Legal Futures can reveal.

Three in five consumers would consider buying legal services from a range of consumer brands, a major piece of market research from YouGov has revealed. The work also found low recognition of any current legal brands, while a third of consumers said they would be attracted by online legal services.

Alternative business structures (ABSs) “may not be as big a threat” to small firms as some fear, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has suggested. A draft impact assessment also argued that ABSs could help equality and diversity in the legal profession by breaking the traditional partnership model that has held it back.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority will rebuff any efforts to restrict its ability to regulate alternative business structures (ABSs) that are 100% owned by non-lawyers, its chief executive has said. There are suggestions of a compromise on its ABS licensing application that would mean the SRA not regulating ABSs that are wholly externally owned, at least initially.