Tag Results
Survey: commercial firms eyeing up ABS opportunities, including MDPs and external cash
Tuesday, 26 June 2012Creating a multi-disciplinary practice, spinning off new services and accessing external investment to finance growth are the main goals of commercial law firms considering converting to alternative business structures, a new survey has found.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, claims management companies, external investment, MDP, multi-disciplinary practice
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Market monitor
PwC to explore option of becoming an ABS and absorbing its legal arm
Wednesday, 7 December 2011Big four accountancy firm PwC is to explore whether to absorb its associated law firm and become an alternative business structure. Legal services is the one area of the firm’s work where it is not able to operate as a totally integrated practice.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, Institute of Chartered Accountants, MDP, multi-disciplinary practice
Posted in Alternative business structures, Market monitor, News
Accountants' ABS ambitions hit by new EU audit rules
Thursday, 1 December 2011The ambitions of larger firms of accountants to offer legal services have become more complicated after the European Commission announced plans to stop auditors offering non-audit services. If it becomes law, the move will lead to the break-up of the ‘big four’ accountants into audit and consultancy businesses.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, MDP, multi-disciplinary practice
Posted in Alternative business structures
Regional accountancy firm unveils plan to become ABS
Friday, 25 November 2011A regional firm of accountants is planning to become an alternative business structure (ABS). Becoming an ABS will allow Spofforths to improve the private client service currently provided by an in-house legal team and in time become a legal brand in its local market.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Institute of Chartered Accountants, reserved legal activities, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Market monitor, News
Legal Pioneers: Whale Rock – the business that cannot wait to become an MDP
Monday, 26 September 2011The latest instalment of our Legal Pioneers series looks at the Whale Rock Professional Services Group, which has legal, accountancy and company secretarial arms. Clients already enjoy the benefits of the one-stop shop, writes Dan Bindman, but becoming an MDP will help considerably.
Tags: accountants, MDP, multi-disciplinary practice
Posted in Alternative business structures, Market monitor, News
Lawyers and accountants – happy marriage or divorce in the making?
Monday, 26 September 2011Among the many things that the Legal Services Act has done is revive the idea of multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs), thought dead after the Enron scandal a decade ago and compounded in the US by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It is often forgotten that there was no MDP actually involved in Enron.
Tags: accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants, MDP, multi-disciplinary practice
Posted in Blog
Susskind: five years until legal market reaches “endgame”
Tuesday, 13 September 2011The relationship between large law firms and general counsel is likely to evolve in three phases, with the “endgame” around five years away, Professor Richard Susskind has predicted. He also expects the large accountancy firms to return to the arena.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, legal process outsourcing
Posted in Alternative business structures, News, Outsourcing
ICAEW bids to regulate accountant-led ABSs on back of probate rights application
Thursday, 23 June 2011The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is investigating how it can license accountancy firms to become alternative business structures and provide legal advice to clients, Legal Futures can reveal. The ICAEW is set first to apply for the right to regulate its members to provide reserved probate activities.
Tags: ABS, accountants, Alternative business structures, ICAEW, Institute of Chartered Accountants, probate
Posted in Alternative business structures, Legal Services Board, Market monitor, News
Accountants should “promote and extend” their ability to give legal advice
Monday, 11 October 2010Accountants should promote and extend their ability to give clients legal advice, and also have the right to conduct litigation and advocacy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has said.
Tags: accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants, reserved legal activities
Posted in Market monitor, News
Chartered accountants eye probate market
Thursday, 7 October 2010Chartered accountants are set to compete with lawyers for probate work after the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) signalled its intention to apply for the right to undertake reserved probate work. An ICAEW survey of 2,500 small practices found that around a quarter were interested in offering the service.
Tags: accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants, probate, reserved legal activities
Posted in Legal Services Board, Market monitor, News, Other lawyers
Blog
Five key issues to consider when adopting an AI-based legal tech
As generative AI starts to play a bigger role in our working lives, there are some key issues that your law firm needs to consider when adopting an AI-based legal tech.
Bulk litigation – not always working in consumers interests
For consumers to get the benefit, bulk litigation needs to be done well, and we are increasingly concerned that there are significant problems in some areas of this market.
ABSs, cost and audits – fixing regulation after Axiom Ince
A feature of law firm collapses and frauds has sometimes been the over-concentration of power in outdated and overburdened systems of control.
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