The Bar Standards Board (BSB) will regulate advocacy-focused Alternative Business Structures (ABS), Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs) and barrister-only entities, but not multi-disciplinary practices.
Announcing the news last week, the BSB said entities under its regulatory control would not be able to hold client money or have external ownership but would be free to apply to conduct litigation.
Owners of BSB-regulated entities must be managers, and there will be a 25 per cent limit on non-lawyer ownership or management. A majority of the owners and managers must be barristers or advocates with higher rights of audience.
Barristers will be free to practise as managers or employees of ABS under other regulators, and to have ownership interests in ABS subject to rules regarding conflicts of interest.
Baroness Ruth Deech, chair of the BSB, said: “Nearly 75 per cent of respondents to our consultation agreed that BSB regulation of entities would be in the public interest.
“We intend to target our regulation on advocacy focussed entities, taking a risk- based and proportionate approach. We hope that this decision
