Will Godot turn up before Alternative Business Structures (ABS) in Scotland? Paul Rogerson, Editor in Chief of The Law Society [of England & Wales] Gazette, thinks this is highly likely. He sets out his thoughts in the leader column of this week’s Digital edition under the heading ‘Bordering on farce‘. It was, of course, Paul…
“A serious abdication of its duty to the profession” is how Margaret Taylor describes the Law Society of Scotland’s approach to Alternative Business Structures (ABS) in a recent article for The Lawyer. The Law Society of Scotland announced earlier this month that they are doing nothing further on ABS in Scotland for another two years….
A deep freeze of ABS in Scotland, for at least two more years, was announced yesterday by the Law Society of Scotland. I, unfortunately, saw this coming a couple of weeks ago when, at a webinar on implementation of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025, it was indicated by the Law Society that:…
ABS in Scotland being kicked into the long grass was a possibility raised yesterday. This was at an online event organised by the Law Society of Scotland: ‘Policy perspectives: Regulation of legal services reform’. Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 They looked at the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 as we enter…
Majority ownership reform has been ignored by the Law Society of Scotland in their latest press release. On 20 May, the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament. That day, the Law Society of Scotland issued a press release hailing their decade of campaigning to achieve this. They highlighted the…
The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament yesterday, 20 May 2025. This was following a raft of amendments being tabled at stage 3. The Law Society of Scotland issued the following statement yesterday: A decade of campaigning by the Law Society of Scotland has resulted in new legislation that…
Alternative Business Structures (ABS) are back on track in Scotland after the AGM of the Law Society of Scotland voted in support of them and against the motion by Michael Sheridan and others against them. Prior to the AGM I blogged about why solicitors should support Alternative Business Structures at the AGM. I am pleased…
Solicitors should support alternative business structures at the AGM of the Law Society of Scotland on Thursday. Section 47 to 49 of the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 allowed for the creation of licensed legal service providers (commonly referred to as alternative business structures) in Scotland provided they remain, in effect, in 51% solicitor ownership….
A halfway house for Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland was confirmed this past week by the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament when they published, on 8 February 2024, their Stage 1 Report on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill [PDF] (“The Report”). They perhaps did so with…
The New Zealand Law Society, in its response to the Independent Review on Regulating Lawyers in Aotearoa New Zealand (the Paterson Review [PDF]), has accepted in principle the proposal to establish a new independent regulator. The Review said that the New Zealand Law Society’s current structure (operating as both a regulator and membership body) was…
Professor Stephen Mayson has published his response to the call for views on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill on both the UCL website and on his own website. You can download the full response as a PDF: Response by Professor Stephen Mayson on call for evidence on Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill….
The Law Society of Scotland made an announcement on 10 August that would suggest the ABS Nessie may be in sight at long last! Later this year (2023) no less. ABSs in Scotland – rarer than Nessie Seven years ago, in 2016, the Law Society Gazette (i.e. the Gazette of the Law Society of England…
