*/
The Legal Services Board has approved the Bar Standards Board’s application to license alternative business structures (ABS).
The decision came 11 months after the application was submitted. The BSB intends to begin its ABS application process from October 2016, but that cannot happen until the designation has been approved by the Lord Chancellor and the necessary legislation put in place.
BSB-licensed ABSs will allow lawyers and non-lawyers jointly to own and manage businesses that provide reserved legal activities.
The BSB intends to license advocacy-focused ABSs whose activities are broadly similar to those of self-employed barristers.
Welcoming the announcement, BSB director of supervision, Oliver Hanmer, said: ‘It is testament to our desire to encourage innovation and competition and to improve access to justice within the legal services market.’
The Legal Services Board has approved the Bar Standards Board’s application to license alternative business structures (ABS).
The decision came 11 months after the application was submitted. The BSB intends to begin its ABS application process from October 2016, but that cannot happen until the designation has been approved by the Lord Chancellor and the necessary legislation put in place.
BSB-licensed ABSs will allow lawyers and non-lawyers jointly to own and manage businesses that provide reserved legal activities.
The BSB intends to license advocacy-focused ABSs whose activities are broadly similar to those of self-employed barristers.
Welcoming the announcement, BSB director of supervision, Oliver Hanmer, said: ‘It is testament to our desire to encourage innovation and competition and to improve access to justice within the legal services market.’
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group
Modernising communication and collaboration at a leading Chancery set. A Zexi case study
How to build profile without compromising professional duties. By Naumaan Farooq, Co-Founder of Inked PR
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, examines the role of cut-off levels, and the wider range of factors that must be considered when interpreting results for family court proceedings
Endometriosis Awareness North, a charity raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting those affected across the North of England, has received a £500 boost from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
The case against judge-only justice – and why efficiency is not enough. By Professor Leslie Thomas KC
Jemima Coleman and Zoë Leventhal KC on the evolving global movement seeking to reframe how we view nature: to recognise that nature possesses inherent rights and to enshrine these rights in law
Heritage as an anchor and a compass, finding our common humanity and embracing the power of the outsider – Melina Antoniadis’s lessons learnt
Seeing the full picture – Baljit Ubhey OBE outlines the CPS action plan to tackle violence against women and girls, offering insights directly relevant to courtroom practice
Lauren Fullerton examines the how, what and why of setting up a second chambers base
