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The Legal Services Board (LSB) has confirmed that it does not back reinstating the ban on referral fees but said that instead all agreements between lawyers and their introducers should be published. As first reported on Legal Futures last month, the LSB said today that there is insufficient evidence to make the case for a ban, but that transparency and disclosure need to be improved. It also said there should be the same rules for the different parts of the regulated legal market so far as possible.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) will become a specialist regulator of entities providing advocacy services, if proposals set out today are approved. Under the plans, BSB-regulated entities could not have passive investors, would need a majority of managers who can practise as advocates in the higher courts, and could only have a maximum of either 10% or 25% of non-lawyer managers.

Our weekly round-up of other relevant news from elsewhere finds alternative business structures on the minds of virtually everyone, whether in England, Scotland, Canada or the USA. If one theme emerges, it is that everyone is waking up to the threats and possibilities inherent in them.

When you have been to as many legal conferences as I have over the past 15 years (and boy, have I been to a lot), you get practised at tuning in and out and getting on with other stuff – with the best will in the world, I’ve heard a lot of it before (and often from the same people). So listening to Shirley Woolham of CPP Group at the Epoq/Plexus Law conference on Tuesday was exciting on a couple of levels.

Some of the biggest brand names in the UK will shortly have access to a legal advice and assistance package for their customers costing around £50 a year, Legal Futures can reveal. CPP Group plc, which provides services via over 200 businesses worldwide – including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Barclays and HSBC – has developed a product which will give consumers access to everyday consumer advice, a range of legal services, and relevant membership discounts and offers.