The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has been approved in principle as a licensing authority for alternative business structures (ABS).
The Legal Services Board is to recommend that the Lord Chancellor makes an order designating the Bar regulator as a licensing authority. If this goes ahead, the BSB can license lawyers and non-lawyers to jointly own and manage legal services businesses.
Oliver Hanmer, the BSB’s director of supervision, says the recommendation is “testament to our desire to encourage innovation and competition and to improve access to justice within the legal services market”.
The BSB will issue a timetable of implementation for potential ABS candidates in the next few weeks.




