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20 October 2011 / James O’connell
Issue: 7486 / Categories: Features , Regulatory , Profession
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Groundhog day

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James O’Connell feels a sense of déjà vu over alternative business structures

Much has been written about the new competition solicitors will face from alternative business structures (ABSs). However, many smaller firms have been quietly facing tough competition from non-solicitor ie, paralegal, law firms (PLFs) for years now. What lessons about the likely impact of ABSs can we learn from 15 years of competition with PLFs?

Take the threat seriously

Solicitors are losing market-share to PLFs in numerous areas, eg uncontested divorces, will-writing, immigration advice, landlord repossessions, debt enforcement, and small and medium enterprise employment law advice.

Audit your “solicitor” branding

If the solicitor brand was as powerful as we’d like, then 6,500 PLFs wouldn’t have flourished over the past 15 years at the expense of solicitors, and ABS firms would not be scenting rich-pickings. These things imply that people really just want basic competency at an affordable price—and whoever it’s from is secondary.

ABSs will be regulated too, but when they get into non-reserved activity work (and they will) the chances

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Sponsored by
London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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