The introduction of the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007) brings a shock to the legal system. The basis of the Act is to expand the legal services to non-traditional outlets such as insurers and retailers. This was intended to create competition, to benefit the consumer by lowering prices and offering better access to a wider range of legal services. Although the expansion of legal services may mean a better deal for consumers, what does it mean for those in the legal profession and for those hoping to join?

The Act is ushering the liberalisation of the legal industry by allowing Alternative Business Structures (ABS’s) to offer legal services. This means that insurance companies, accountancy firms and even supermarkets could offer legal advice, allowing the consumer to buy legal services alongside their grocery shopping.

Big Bang

In October 2011 a ‘big bang’ will occur where licenses will be granted to allow Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDP’s) to be created; which in turn will allow law firms to recruit up to 25% of their partners from a non-lawyer pool. This could signify for prospective solicitors a more difficult future in attempting to become a partner in a firm, with up to a quarter of partners not being qualified solicitors. This raises the question: will the legal profession still be as attractive as it once was?

One reason for creating the LSA 2007 is to change the current law firm model to one that will provide better service for the customer, with lawyers providing legal services and partners specialising in other disciplines to manage the running of the law firm. This creates increased competition with prospective solicitors needing to possess the communication and administration skills necessary to run a law firm as well as being well versed in legal matters. The aspiring partner will need to be a well-rounded individual to beat the increasing hordes of competition.

A criticism of LDP’s is that they are seen as structures which will allow for the dilution of the equity of law firms by letting non-lawyers to buy into them. One senior partner at Wragges & Co likened it to ‘selling the crown jewels’ . Although this is a minority view, some firms support it, believing that up-and-coming lawyers will be less likely to join a law firm ‘that has sold half of itself out’ .
However, it will mean that there will be a wider variety of firms for lawyers to train with, ranging from Nabarro to Netto, therefore increasing the amount of training contracts available.

Legal Disciplinary Partnerships
A feature of the LSA is that it will allow barristers, solicitors and other types of lawyers to merge to form LDP’s. This means that barristers could, for example, become partners in a solicitors firm which specialises in advocacy , alternatively, a conveyancer and estate agent could set up a partnership in property services. The last example is likely to be the reality of the so-called Tesco law. While opponents of the LSA imagine divorce lawyers perched between crisps and confectionary, it is far more likely that Tesco’s legal service will consist of drafting wills for clients (not dissimilar to the DIY law kits already on offer from retailers such as WHSmiths) and aiding them in buying and selling houses (high volume work that does not have not be carried out by qualified solicitors but can be undertaken by paralegals or legal clerks).

In order for retailers to turn over the maximum profit in this industry the most lucrative way is to have a small group of lawyers oversee other legal workers who would not need to be qualified to minimise costs on hiring. Legal services could even be outsourced to call centres, allowing high volumes of work to be produced for cheaper legal fees. This in turn has a negative impact on high street solicitors particularly on firms who specialise in one area of law, primarily because work can be mass-produced for the general public without the specialist knowledge that a legal education provides. In the future there may be fewer training contracts on offer from high street firms due to competition from large-scale, outsourced legal services.

Flexibility
Despite the varying arguments against the LSA, one advantage that can be afforded to it is the increase in flexibility of employment in the future. A newly qualified barrister with few cases on their books could be employed in a set of chambers as well as work part-time alongside solicitors in a criminal law firm. Although the nature of the profession is that barristers are very independent as a result of being self-employed within chambers, barristers may welcome the flexibility offered by the LSA.

To accompany the blurring distinction between the professions of barrister and solicitor, it has been proposed that instead of students taking the Legal Practice Course or Bar Professional Training Course, the postgraduate qualification should be replaced with a single comprehensive qualification covering subjects ranging from advocacy to management. This grants students more time to decide on a career path and it will make choosing a career in law more fluid as students will have studied a wider range of topics before embarking on their chosen career.

All-in-all, the LSA brings, arguably, one of the biggest changes to the profession in centuries. Lawyers will be able to team up with accountants, insurers and estate agents, amongst others to build a one-stop shop in consumer services, thereby monopolising the consumer market. Although there may well be fewer lawyers able to reap these benefits, the increased overall competition means that there may be more providers of training contracts. However, the increase in contracts may be marginal and perhaps not even necessary as qualified lawyers are utilised less and less in a world that does not see the law as the mysterious and closed door profession it once was.