In the United Kingdom, lawyers have already taken advantage of recent legislation that allows law firms to accept equity investments and legal services businesses to be owned and managed by nonlawyers. Since the U.K. Legal Services Act went into effect in 2011, more than 450 so-called alternative business structures (ABSs) have been approved, leading to a wave of consolidation. Australia’s Slater & Gordon—which in 2007 took advantage of similar legislation in Australia to became the world’s first publicly listed law firm—has acquired seven U.K. personal injury and consumer law firms since getting its ABS license in early 2012. Large U.K. corporations and insurers such as telecom company BT Group plc and retailer The Co-operative Group have also converted to ABSs in order to provide legal services to their customers, as have accounting giants KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It’s a different story in the United States. The District of Columbia permits a limited form of nonlawyer ownership, with some D.C. firms, such as election law boutique Utrecht & Phillips, having nonlawyer partners.
