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07 October 2011 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7484 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Legal services
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Rolling back justice (4)

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What will ABSs mean for legal aid firms? Jon Robins collects the views of those who are for & against deregulation

This week sees the start-date for the licensing of alternative business structures (ABSs), the most radical aspect of the Legal Services Act 2007, which allows for both the external ownership of law firms and the floating of legal practices on the stock exchange. But just what does this significant step towards deregulation of legal services mean for the publicly-funded end of the profession? Does it mean anything? The already precarious financial base of legal aid firms is about to be decimated by a government reform agenda predicated on the objective of removing £350m from a £2.1bn scheme. Ministers also want to slash fees for civil and family by 10% across the board.

Breath of fresh air?

Can ABSs breathe some life into a dying sector? A couple of years ago I asked Carolyn Regan, then chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, whether the Legal Services Act had anything to do with cash-strapped publicly-funded law. “Absolutely, there is

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