Alternative business structures

Saga, the over-50s insurance and travel company, has closed its legal services business, Legal Futures can reveal – but said it may yet return to the market in future. The company was hit by the collapse last year of Parabis, with which it had set up a joint venture alternative business structure, Saga Law, in late 2013.

Regional law firms have a much more positive view of the impact of alternative business structures (ABSs) and other regulatory changes than City firms, a survey has found. It said 45% of regional firms described ABSs as having a positive impact on their practices, compared to only 18% of City firms.

It would be less stressful and less expensive for clients to use their accountants for probate work than solicitors, one of the leading accountancy bodies has claimed. Meanwhile, the head of an accountancy ABS said it made “little sense” for lawyers to handle uncontested probate work.

One of the first local authority alternative business structures is projected to increase its turnover 30% over the next year, and has already cut the fee rates for its shareholder clients by 20%, it revealed yesterday. LGSS Law is now also advising more than 100 client organisations within the public and not-for-profit sectors.

The legal market is set for a “second wave” of external investment, a leading corporate financier said today, describing it as “an inevitable snowball that is gathering pace”. He identified several markets – from criminal law to large commercial firms – where there were opportunities for investors.

One-time network Connect2Law has been reborn as an alternative business structure that has acquired leading referral business Contact Law, Legal Futures can reveal. It is part of a strategy to establish C2L as “the UK’s leading provider of branded consumer legal services” on behalf of businesses entering the legal market.

An ABS set up by the owner of a debt collection agency is promising to offer “genuine” no-win, no-fee deals in an industry where it accuses solicitors of being unwilling to take the rough with the smooth.

A company founded by an ex-Premier League footballer to help people buy and invest in overseas property has converted into an alternative business structure so as to bring legal work in-house. Judicare Law International also seeks to protect investors in foreign property from losing money to developers in collapsed schemes and scams.

Well-known recovery specialist Leonard Curtis has today launched an alternative business structure to create a multi-disciplinary offering to businesses in financial distress. The solicitor founder said his experience to date showed how accountants were much better at being SMEs’ ‘trusted adviser’ than law firms.

Redde plc – the AIM-listed accident management company that owns two law firms, announced record results yesterday, and also that it has taken full ownership of the smaller of its alternative business structures. Turnover grew 53% to £379m, with profit before tax up a similar amount to £34.6m.