The Solicitors Regulation Authority is expecting 20 firms and organisations to apply for alternative business structure status when the regulator begins licensing ABSs on 3 January 2012, Solicitors Journal has learned. The first licences are due to be issued around six weeks later, in the second half of February.
The government is postponing implementation of the cuts contained in its legal aid bill to April 2013. Consultation on competitive tendering for criminal legal aid has been postponed until the autumn of 2013.
The Court of Appeal has rejected arguments by the Law Society and Bar Council that the LSC's ability to recoup legal aid payments on account should be limited to six years from the end of the case.