When the last piece of the Legal Services Act jigsaw was put into place this year, some commentators likened the licensing of alternative business structures as a ‘Big Bang’. The process of applying to become an ABS has more been a slow boil than a bang. In the next three years that may change.
According to report on Legal Futures, a poll by Winmark and Deloitte says that 46% of law firms polled are likely to use the ABC structure. That doesn’t mean that all the firms that took part will change overnight. They might be setting up an ABS for one part of their offering. Regardless, it is certainly significant that almost half the firms surveyed are considering this. There is one caveat. Only 42 professional services firms were polled of which three-quarters were law firms.
