Conveyancing firm is first ABS
updated on 13 October 2011
Leicester-based Premier Property Lawyers (PPL) - one of the largest conveyancing firms in the country - has made history by becoming the first to register as an alternative business structure (ABS) after new rules came into force (see "ABS are go for launch").
The firm - which provides the conveyancing service for conveyancing company myhomemove - is, as yet, the only one to have submitted a formal application to become an ABS to the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
PPL and myhomemove director Kevin Smith told the Law Gazette: "We are proud and delighted to have been granted the first ABS licence in the United Kingdom. It has taken significant work to complete the rigorous application process but we believe that ABS will, over time, transform the legal services market and we intend to be at the forefront of developments in this area."
The CLC is currently the only regulator able to grant ABS licences; the SRA is expected to be ready to do so in early 2012. CLC chief executive Victor Olowe told the Law Gazette: "We already have over 20 active enquiries from a range of firms in addition to more than 40 firms we currently regulate who are part owned or managed by non-lawyers which will also become ABSs. It’s obviously hard to predict how many applications we will receive, but we are geared up for anything between 100 and 150 this year."
