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Around 100 firms of accountants are expected to become alternative business structures, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales said today as it unveiled its draft application to become a regulator of legal work.

The first will-writer to be granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence says she hopes others will follow suit so as to “level the playing field” with solicitors. Parchment Law Group became the seventh ABS last Friday.

Four bodies have already put themselves forward to regulate will-writers following the Legal Services Board’s proposal that will-writing become a reserved legal activity, with all making their intentions clear at this week’s Legal Futures conference.

The Legal Services Board is to examine whether ‘general legal advice’ given to consumers should be regulated, it announced today, but has rejected the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s call for all solicitor-type services to be reserved.

The Legal Services Board yesterday rejected a bid to allow licensed conveyancers to conduct litigation and advocacy, after more than a year of consideration. It had run into fierce opposition from the Lord Chief Justice and the Law Society.