Jon Robins examines the initial response of the legal industry to the Legal Services Act
The headline figures—just eight licensed alternative business structures (ABSs) to date—suggest a somewhat shaky start undermining the hyperbolic “Big Bang” billing, often accorded to the introduction of competition under the Legal Services Act 2007.
Strategic manoeuvres
However, the findings from a new report ABSolutely fabulous: a study of ABSs and their role in a changing legal market (Jures, June 2012) tell a different story. In a survey of more than 100 commercial firms, almost four out of 10 respondents (39%) had already changed their management strategy as a result of the LSA; over one third (36%) had reviewed their management strategy as a result in the last six months; and half of respondent firms (50%) were aware of their “business rivals” considering applying for ABS status.
“It smacks of panic or paranoia,” said Tina Williams, senior partner at Fox Williams LLP, at the report’s launch last week of that final finding. “It reveals the deep anxiety on the part of legal service providers that maybe they haven’t got their
