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The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has reminded the Legal Services Board (LSB) of its decision to allow accountancy firms wanting to carry out legal work to have minimum indemnity insurance cover of £500,000, in a bid to head off concerns about its move to reduce the level for solicitors.

The Lord Chancellor yesterday approved the application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) to become a regulator of probate services and licensing authority for alternative business structures.

Over the holidays, I came across the course notes for a course I attended in February 2102. It was called ‘Introduction to probate’ and was run under the auspices of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Page 1 of the course notes, and, as I recall, about the first 20 minutes of the speaker’s talk, referred to the “many opportunities arising from these additional services”. That the opening up of probate to members of the ICAEW is regarded as a potential bonanza for the accountancy profession is not in doubt.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has hit back against Law Society objections to its application to become an alternative business structure regulator, claiming the public interest was “built into accountants’ DNA”.

The government does not intend to extend legal professional privilege to non-lawyers, the Ministry of Justice confirmed yesterday after accountants urged Parliament to level the playing field for multi-disciplinary entities.