New research published into legal services provided by ‘special bodies’

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has today published new research carried out on behalf of the Board by Frontier Economics. The report examines risks involved in services provided to consumers by ‘special bodies’.

The term ‘special bodies’ was introduced by the Legal Services Act 2007 to cover advice services subject to transitional protections over their ability to conduct reserved legal activities. The general position is that the introduction of Alternative Business Structures (ABS) will mean that legal services providers with non-lawyer owners or managers will need to be licensed in order to conduct reserved legal activities. The Act allows these ‘special bodies’ – which include not-for-profit organisations, community interest companies and some trade unions – to carry out those activities without a licence for a transitional period. The LSB can make a recommendation to the Lord Chancellor that he should end the transitional protections, after which those bodies may seek special treatment from the Licensing Authority.

This new research forms part of the Board’s work in understanding conditions in this part of the legal services market, as well as any risk of detriment that will shape the type and level of regulatory intervention necessary to ensure consumer protection.