Tag Results

The Legal Services Board has finally taken the Solicitors Regulation Authority off ‘report’ over how it is handling the approval of alternative business structures, with the number of licenses it has issued now topping 400.

The owners of NewLaw Solicitors have received an issue of shares worth £5.16m as final consideration for its acquisition by Redde plc. Law firm-owning Fairpoint Group and Slater & Gordon have also issued stock market announcments.

A groundbreaking alternative business structure that last year embraced employee ownership has seen the valuation of its shares rise 15% over the past 12 months. Staff at Triton Global each received a free initial tranche of shares and nearly two-thirds have since invested further to the collective tune of £58,000.

The rule which requires the Solicitors Regulation Authority to approve the individuals who own companies that in turn own alternative business structures is set to be scrapped. The requirement for firms to keep a record of non-material breaches of the SRA Handbook may also go.

A new local authority alternative business structure is targeting the health sector as one of its main growth areas. Its head said that with “no traditional partnership structure or expensive offices, our fees are very, very competitive compared with specialist private sector law firms”.