It's been almost a year since the law changed, enabling advisers to set up joint ventures with law firms, but to what extent have they taken advantage of the opportunity?
An increasing number of financial services firms are considering establishing more formal links with legal services firms in the form of ‘alternative business structures’ (ABS’s) in which solicitors and IFAs set up a third company – a joint venture in which they share equity. This opening follows changes to the Legal Services Act in January allowing non-law firms to offer legal services. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was unable to say how many ABS applications were currently under consideration but there are currently 37 ABS’s registered with the organisation. Some 25% of ...
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