Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

After the initial flurry of activity at the beginning of 2012, when the first round of ABS licences were granted by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (see blog entry in March 2012) and the Co-op announced its plans for the development of its legal services offer (see blog entry May 2012), there has been sure and steady progress on the ABS front.

Russell Jones and Walker, together with an Australian Firm, Slater and Gordon have a licence to develop ABS, based on their merged business.

Irwin Mitchell, a large UK based law firm, have acquired 3 ABS licences to develop their practice – they have been widely reported as intending to raise private capital by a flotation on the Stock Exchange.

The current list of firms granted ABS licences is available at http://www.sra.org.uk/absregister/