I am writing to comment upon the correspondence from DPC O'Hagan (see [2008] Gazette, 14 February, 13). Your correspondent appears to consider that the legal world as we know it will cease to exist with the advent of alternative business structures (ABS) and that we will all have to become 'factory firms' to survive.


I am the senior partner of a small firm in Kent. We have three offices and employ about 20 staff. We have always had good, professional referral relationships with accountants and financial advisers, and mutually beneficial associations with other small firms, to whom we refer work (and vice versa). We cannot be described, by any stretch of the imagination, as a 'factory firm'.



In considering the future of the profession, we have taken the view that we need to offer something different from the current legal 'product' if we are to compete with the supermarkets and 'factories' who will inevitably drive down the cost of the basic high street services that we supply.



We have therefore decided to create the equivalent of an ABS. Indeed, we opened our 'one-stop professional shop' in Broadstairs at the start of this year. From a single location we will be offering legal, accountancy and financial planning services, something which we believe to be a first in the county. Time will tell as to whether or not that has been a good move on our part.



Rather than complaining about the unfairness of the proposed new system, and longing for the days when people respected the role of the 'family solicitor', we as a profession need to adapt to change. If we fail to take up the challenge then it will be no-one's fault but our own when we 'high street solicitors' become extinct.



Edward R Foster, Fosters Law, Herne Bay