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Crawford & Company, one of the world’s biggest firms of loss adjusters, has announced that it is setting up an alternative business structure in the UK to offer an end-to-end claims management services. Crawford – which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange – has 27 offices in this country.

Two separate alternative business structures specialising in commercial contracts went live today – each offering clients a non-traditional alternative to corporate law firms. Wavelength.law makes sophisticated use of new technology, while Ember Contract Solutions is part of a management consultancy.

DAS Law – the alternative business structure set up by the eponymous legal expenses insurer – is launching a pioneering graduate academy for “lawyers of the future”, with the first six recruits starting next month. Staff numbers at the firm have doubled to around 220 since it was created in 2013.

Alternative business structures (ABS) make up just 4% of all solicitors’ firms but contributed 11% of the profession’s turnover, research has revealed. The Law Society’s annual statistical report, found ABSs were spread broadly across the different turnover bands, with around 50 of them having income in excess of £10m.

The spread of virtual assistants will not remove the need for lawyers but it will reduce their number, the chief executive of Riverview Law has predicted. Karl Chapman said he was “amazed” by the number of lawyers doing things they did not need to do.