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News

Law firms are moving away from traditional partnerships to operate as incorporated companies

updated on 21 February 2018

The face of the legal market is in a period of significant change, with close to half of all law firms now operating as incorporated companies and only a small minority holding to the traditional partnership structure, new research has revealed.

IRN Research’s latest annual report showed that the traditional partnership model is on the wane after a long period as the dominant model used by law firms. Some 44% of solicitors’ firms now trade as incorporated companies, while 15% operate as limited liability partnerships – LLPs – and 17% are still run as traditional partnerships.

The research identified the introduction of alternative business structures (ABS) in 2011 as the catalyst for widespread change across the legal services market. Legal Futures reports that the number of ABSs reached 1,130 in January – a meteoric rise in seven years.