Alternative business structures

The legal market is “totally fragmented, under-capitalised, technologically semi-illiterate and structurally redundant”, a former justice minister has claimed, arguing that a smaller number of big firms is the answer to the problems with criminal legal aid.

Slater & Gordon announced today that it will invest over £30m on new technology and broadening its services over the next three years – with volume conveyancing a target – as the firm looks to put the troubles of the past behind it. Legal Futures was given the first trade interview with the firm’s CEO about his vision for the future.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority should investigate whether there are regulatory barriers to law firms that become alternative business structures providing other professional services such as accountancy and surveying, rather than vice versa, a report it commissioned has recommended.

City law firm Rosenblatt today became the fourth law firm to be admitted to AIM. The share placement, which was significantly oversubscribed, raised approximately £43m and gave the 19-partner firm, which is best known for its litigation work, a market capitalisation of £76m.

Listed firm Keystone Law has reassured investors that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has ended its investigation into a case in which a High Court judge accused it of conniving with clients to try and avoid a debt. Meanwhile, we also report on a series of high-level departures and arrivals at some of the country’s most high-profile ABSs.

CILEx Regulation has moved to reassure the Lord Chief Justice over his concerns about its application to license alternative business structures. The regulator of chartered legal executives said that it would only look to regulate firms “that are relatively low risk and straightforward”.

North Yorkshire County Council has become the latest local authority to set up an alternative business structure (ABS) with the launch of First North Law. It comes as one of the country’s largest ABSs – Enact Conveyancing – has significantly expanded its presence in Yorkshire, creating 160 new jobs.

Legal services marketing giant NAHL is to create a third alternative business structure this year, which will focus on helping injured people navigate small claims if and when the government’s whiplash reforms happen in April 2019. The news comes against the background of its 2017 annual results, which showed revenue up but profit down sharply.

A law firm with offices across south Wales and Gloucestershire has become an alternative business structure to assist ambitious plans to exceed its rapid growth in 2017 and enable its non-lawyer chief executive to become an investor.

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) has set up an alternative business structure to provide legal services to its 500 member churches and other Christian groups. Edward Connor Solicitors, a charity regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, went live on 1 March and is named after FIEC’s founder, Edward Poole-Connor.