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Rather than feeling threatened by accountants’ move into legal services, law firms should set up alternative business structures (ABS) and compete with them, the president of the Law Society has said. Jonathan Smithers said: “The success of ABS to date indicates that clients are generally not concerned about sourcing their legal services from non-lawyers.”

There is no reason why solicitors setting up a new law firm should not do so as an alternative business structure, the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. Mr Philip predicted that solicitors would in the future be ” business people first”.

The Legal Services Board has approved radical reforms of the separate business rule for solicitors, while noting that the changes “carry some risks to consumers”. Information on the difference between regulated and unregulated services is to be tested with consumers before the change comes into force.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority approved a radical overhaul of the separate business rule at its board meeting yesterday, despite strong opposition from the Law Society. The changes are planned to come into force on 1 November this year.

Plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to relax the separate business rule could cause “irreparable damage” to the solicitor brand and “drive significant numbers of the profession” into the unregulated sector, the City of London Law Society has warned.