A tidal wave building?

The coming into force this month of the parts of the Legal Services Act paving the way for the Law Society of Scotland and others to act as ABS regulators, does not quite mark the crossing of the finishing line for the new regime – see feature for where we are now – but it does highlight, if that is needed, the imminence of change.

This seems a good month to flag up all the developments in England & Wales in what is still only a matter of months since full ABS became a reality there. Our leading article sets out just how many variations have already developed in business models and sources of funding, and although there are of course fewer constraints than exist in Scotland with our requirement of 51% ownership by regulated professionals, we should not underestimate the potential for change. The number of recent mergers or takeovers involving Scottish firms coming under the umbrella of larger English practices, shows how low a barrier the border represents.

There is however no harm in recalling the new opportunities provided by ABS for rewarding and reinforcing staff commitment to a firm, even for small practices. It was notable that of the first three ABS applications approved by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority south of the border, two were from high street legal firms. One was a two partner firm in Oxfordshire who intended to make their non-solicitor practice manager their managing partner; and the other came from a sole practitioner in Kent who wanted to make his wife, also his practice manager, a shareholding director. (The third was Co-operative Legal Services, who have well publicised plans to make a big impact in the market.)

I do not doubt that ABS continues to divide opinion among Scottish solicitors, as indeed it does with some in England & Wales; but it is becoming a reality, and everyone who makes their livelihood from legal practice has to consider their business options in these difficult times with an open mind and a critical eye.

Also this month we shine some light on the Society’s Regulatory Committee, created last year to comply with the 2010 Act reforms. While the convener, Carole Ford, whom we interview, is very much an outsider to the legal profession, she is equally clear that the various professions have more in common than lawyers often assume, and professes an ethos of regulation by professionals while having regard to the public interest. There are worse scenarios we could envisage.