At the end of last year, the Legal Services Act gained Royal Assent, with provisions for alternative business structures (ABS) heralding opportunities for major changes in our legal services market – currently estimated to be worth £19bn. Although the law – which allows law firms to go into business with other professionals and list on the stock market – does not come into force until 2011, both investors and existing law firms are starting to rethink the delivery of legal services and explore market potential. This is an unprecedented opportunity for financial institutions and retailers to provide a range of legal products and for investors to take equity in existing legal practices.
Talk of redistribution of clients, work, profit, capital and ownership is forcing partners to ask a fundamental question: “How much is our business worth?” But, in any market undergoing deregulation, the question should in fact be: “How much could our business be worth?”
