The ABS revolution is yet to come

I was wrong. On 12 January I predicted that the first alternative business structures to be authorised by the SRA would be the Co-op and a small firm. Last week the regulator revealed that the Co-op and not one but two small firms were the first SRA-licensed ABSs.

But you get my point. Every since the Legal Services Act became law the government and the SRA have been keen to send out the message that ABSs were for everybody, new entrants and traditional players alike. The choice of the first licensed ABSs was a critical step in the campaign to sell the model to the profession and to the wider legal services sector. The first batch had to include a new entrant and at least one traditional law firm; these would be the poster boys for the Legal Services Act revolution.

Yet the new order that we have been promised is still to materialise. The Co-op has been open about its intention to become an ABS when the Act was still only a bill and it has been actively working with the SRA since the summer on making it happen. Sources described the application as an informal pilot, a dry run testing the processes in preparation for similar applications by large non-lawyer-owned organisations.

With its mutual status the Co-op is also hardly the sort of organisation that embodies the hard-nosed corporate world which could risk giving ABSs a bad name. The involvement of Christina Blacklaws, Chris May and Jenny Beck must also have been a significant factor in the equation. For Lemington Spa and for Whitehall, the Co-op was the perfect guinea pig.

Then we have three-partner firm John Welch & Stammers, based in Witney. Picture postcard high street firm offering the range of services you would expect '“ wills and probate, conveyancing, family law and civil litigation. The partners I spoke to at the firm seemed utterly thrilled. Were they planning on merging with a firm of accountants or seeking external capital injection? No, they just wanted their practice manager of 12 years to be able to join the partnership. The LLP model would have suited them just fine.

Likewise sole practitioner Michael Pope, in Sidcup, trading as Lawbridge, only wanted his wife to become a shareholder in the practice '“ although the couple don't rule out further expansion.

This combination of the old and the new was a carefully orchestrated public relations exercise. Justice secretary Jonathan Djanogly even indulged in a photo opportunity posing as a legal advice executive at a Co-operative Legal Services call centre, complete with headset.

It worked because the momentum had built up for long enough but it wasn't the big bang we have been looking forward to. The real dawn of the ABSs will be when the likes of Irwin Mitchell, Slater & Gordon, Parabis, LawVest and LegalZoom get the green light from the SRA. We should not have to wait too long now.