Published on September 25, 2011.
Legal practices could be under threat by new proposals to shake up the industry, according to a Coventry lawyer.
The warning from Nick Button, senior partner of Button Legal, in Warwick Road, has come ahead of the imminent introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs).
Next month (October) new legislation is due to come into force in England and Wales which will enable private equity firms and other investors to own and run legal practices. Currently, practices must be owned and run by qualified solicitors. The Legal Services Act which heralds the changes is due to come in to force on 6 October although there may be a delay in its full implementation.
Mr Button, who has run his city centre practice for more than 21 years, said the new legislation would present the industry with a number of challenges and potentially threaten the strong links that solicitors establish with their clients.
“There is clearly the potential for the close working relationship between solicitors and their clients being damaged, not least because the ‘personal touch’ could be lost,” he said.
“The new system will facilitate external ownership of legal practices and open up the legal services market to large corporate organisations. While advocates of it say it will encourage competition many experienced lawyers would argue that clients are going to be driven by price alone which will result in a poor service being offered and may put traditional practices in a vulnerable position as they are unable to compete.
“It’s likely that they will focus on areas of the law like wills, administration of estates and conveyancing. Of course we don’t have a crystal ball so the effects of ABS on the industry remain to be seen but we, like many other practices, are concerned and will continue to monitor the new legislation’s impact.”
Button Legal was set up in 1988 and offers a range of services including conveyancing, commercial property, landlord and tenant issues, matrimonial law and debt recovery. It now has nine lawyers and 16 support staff.