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News

LSB confirms accountants approved to offer legal services

updated on 06 January 2014

David Edmonds, chair of the Legal Services Board (LSB), has confirmed that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has satisfied the criteria to become an approved regulator of alternative business structures (ABS).

Once the ICAEW is formally granted the power to license ABS firms, it is expected that several accountancy firms will apply to offer legal services. As the Law Society Gazette reports, the ICAEW intends for authorised members to do probate services alongside the services that they currently provide to clients. Edmonds has stated that the move is "a very considerable step for liberalisation in the legal services market", with the possibility of ICAEW regulating litigation and other services in the future. The final steps for the application are formal approval from the LSB and then the lord chancellor.

Currently, the bodies already authorised to approve ABS applications include the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Council for Licensed Conveyancers and the Intellectual Property Regulation Board.