Yesterday the SRA revealed the first three Alternative Business Structures (ABS) to be licensed by it. Legal Futures carried a report on it. The three are Co-Op Legal Services (no surprise there then), John Welch and Stammers, a high street firm in Oxfordshire and Lawbridge Solicitors Limited, a Sidcup based solo based firm of solicitors. [...]
A Blog about UK Legal Services Deregulation
Tag Archive: ABS
Worth the Wait?
Today is the day when, finally, more than four years after the Legal Services Act received Royal Assent, the SRA started accepting applications for Alternative Business Structures (ABS), thus meaning we’re on the cusp of a possible “titanic battle for the hearts and minds of potential customers” as the new style legal businesses jump into [...]
Freedom in Practice: Outcomes Focused Regulation
Outcomes Focused Regulation, or OFR for short, is the buzzword du jour at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) at the moment. Charles Plant (Chairman) and Antony Townsend (Chief Executive) are conducting a series of roadshows around the country on the subject, which is promoted with the subtitle “Freedom in Practice”. This is the SRA’s proposed [...]
Help! I need somebody
Two weeks ago I was speaking at a seminar entitled “Competing in a Changing Environment” 1 on the subject of “Tesco Law” and the implications of Alternative Business Structures on the profession. One of the delegates, a solicitor, asked what our “union” i.e. the Law Society was doing to promote its members’ interests. I demonstrated my [...]
Can Social Media Save Solicitors?
In my last post on this topic I argued that the introduction of Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) does not have to entail the destruction of the smaller firms in the legal profession, although it undoubtedly poses a very severe challenge. High Street firms without a recognised “brand” of their own haven’t got the financial resources [...]
