An ABS stands for "Alternative Business Structure" and this is relevant to Law students and graduates because they are part of the changing legal landscape of England and Wales.
ABS came about as a result of the Legal Services Act of 2007. It allowed non lawyers to offer legal services alongside other business areas and became known as "Tesco Law". It was actually the Co-op that became one of the first to get its ABS licence and was closely followed by the AA, Direct Line and Saga. Then some established law firms such as Irwin Mitchell and Weightmans also joined the ABS group. PWC was the first of the big four accountancy practices to get its licence and now offers legal training contracts, as does EY.
What does being an ABS mean for organisations?
For law firms, it means that they can be managed by non-lawyers and can attract external investment. For organisations like the Co-op it means they can offer legal services alongside their established businesses such as funeral care and insurance, thus widening the market for the consumer.
What does the establishment of ABS mean for students and graduates?
Although there are now over 500 ABS licensed organisations, this hasn't led to a massive change in legal recruitment yet. However, it could lead to more jobs for paralegals which is good news for LLB graduates unsure about going straight on to the LPC without a training contract.
One such firm is Riverview Law, based on the Wirral. Riverview provides business legal services to its customers using a fixed price model working to support in-house legal teams, for example. Riverview employs paralegals (or Business Law Executives as it calls them). It then recruits trainee solicitors from those paralegals. Some of our University of Chester LLB graduates are now trainees at Riverview Law.
ABS has certainly got a foothold in the market for legal services so every Law student and graduate should be aware of them.
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